Homestead Dreamer

Menu Plan Monday

Well, it's shaping up to be a busy week for us (again).  My car is officially undrivable.  (Sigh).  I took Lilli to school in the old farm truck today.  Other than a mishap with the seatbelt, it was fine and the girls really LIKE driving in the old truck.  LOL

Here is our tentative meal plan for the week.  I say tentative because we always switch the days around a bit, depending on leftovers and such.

Monday:  Grill (hot dogs, brats, steaks), baked potatoes, peas

Tuesday:  Beef Stroganoff (crockpot) for Lance and I.  Chicken/broccolli for Lilli

Wednesday:    BBQ Chicken, mac and cheese, green beans

Thursday:  Leftovers

Friday:  Sweet and Sour Meatballs (crockpot), rice, broccolli

Saturday:  ??  Tacos for Lance and I.  Corn Dogs and a veggie for the girls.

Sunday:  ??  leftovers or grill or ??

Breakfasts will consist of:  Cereal and toast, cinnamon rolls, and/or waffles.

Lunches consist of:  soup, sandwiches, grilled cheeses and/or leftovers

Desserts this week:  Strawberry Shortcake and Brownies

Here are our plans this week (so far):

Monday:  Lance work 6-4.  Lilli school 7:50-3:15.  After work/school we plan to go and look at a vehicle for sale near here.  I think it's a Mitsubishi but I'm really not sure.  Lance says it isn't a mini van but it looks like one to me.  He's been checking it out online, so we'll go see if we like it or not.  I really can't go too long without a car, so hopefully it will work out for us.  Otherwise I'll be driving the truck around and it's a gas hog compared to my Honda.

Tuesday:  Lance work.  Lilli school.  Lauren will go to my parent's house for the day as I plan to attend a field trip with Lilli and her class.  We are going to a pumpkin patch in Richland for the morning, then stopping at a roadside park for lunch and playtime before returning to the school.  After school, we'll pick Lauren up and have a short visit at my parent's house before heading home for stories, bath and bedtimes.

Wednesday:  Lance work.  Lilli school.  Lauren playgroup 9:30-11.  Then I take Lauren to my parent's house for the afternoon while I volunteer at Lilli's school from 12-3 (ish).  Then Lilli and I will  head to my parent's house for a quick visit before heading home where the girls will hang-out with Papa while I attend a PTO meeting at the school at 6:30 PM.

Thursday:  Lance work.  Lilli school.  Then Lilli has dance from 6-8PM.

Friday:  Lance might be off work, as he's on 10 hours.  Lilli school. Lilli may spend the night with my parents.

Saturday:  Cut wood.  Lilli will come home if she's spent the night away last night.

Sunday:  Lilli has her horse lesson at 11.  Cut wood probably.  I'm not sure other than that.  There is a trick-or-treat activity going on in South Haven on the Kal-Haven trail, but I'm not sure if we'll make that or not.  We'll have to see how the weather is and what else comes up.

Our week in review: overnight guests, trick or treating, car problems

Well, another week has come and gone and I can't believe how fast time goes by.

Our week was pretty routine up until Friday.  Lance had the day off and planned to cut wood.  I had planned on rearranging the girls' bedrooms (making a sleeping room and a playroom instead of one room for each girl). 

I had just taken down Lauren's crib (she's never slept in it anyway) when the phone rang and a friend mentioned she and her one-year old daughter would be in town that evening and asked if she could stay here for the night.  Of course I said yes and was happy for the company:)  Her daughter is so good and it was so fun watching the girls all play together. 

Her daughter's name is Lauren, so I'm sure the poor thing thinks I'm the meanest woman alive thinking I was talking to her everytime I said, "Lauren, you be nice" or "Lauren, you share", or "Lauren, you need to take turns".  LOL.  Seriously though, they played really nicely other than our Lauren having a hard time sharing a select few things.

I spent most of the day Friday moving furniture around the girls' rooms.  We took Lilli's twin bed down and put it in the basement, moved the futon from Lauren's room into Lilli's room, and put up our cast iron (antique?) full-size bed in Lauren's room. 

Of course, when Lilli saw her 'new' room, she decided she wanted to start sleeping in there afterall.  I like that idea better anyway.  With Lilli and Lauren's age difference, there are always going to be things that Lilli doesn't want Lauren to have, so she needs a place to keep those things, or to go when she doesn't want to be 'bothered'.  We'll see how it goes.

Tracy (our overnight friend) came Friday about 4ish and we had a wonderful time.  We had pizza and just hung out all night.  We showed her the pigs and cows, goats and dogs.  The chickens were locked up so we didn't head over that way. 

All the girls were asleep by 9PM, so Lance, Tracy and I sat up and chatted until about midnight.  Well, Lance went to bed about 10:30ish and then Tracy and I kept yakking long after we said we were going to bed.  It was nice to have somebody to chat with.  I hope they come again soon, and hopefully Dave can come next time too.

On Saturday I took the girls trick-or-treating at the resort where my brother works.  We had a fantastic time.  We drove to the pumpkin patch from the resort...well, the girls and I rode with SIL Vicki as my car broke down at my parent's driveway just before our outing.

Anyway, we went to the pumpkin patch where the girls chose their pumpkins.  We took them back to the resort and carved them out.  They turned out really cute.

Then we ate sloppy joes and chips with cider to drink (it was all you could eat for $2 per person).

After eating we put the girls into their costumes (really hot fleecy ones and it was 80 degrees) for the hay ride around the resort.  Dustin pulled a trailer (w/ hay) with the Jeep.  The kids seemed to really like it.  All of us parents sat on a curb while they were gone.  I'm sure we were a funny sight sitting there like that.

After the hayride we took the girls trick-or-treating to the campers in the resort.  They really got a lot of candy.  There were probably a dozen or so campers there, maybe more. 

 Lauren is at a great age for trick-or-treating right now.  Everytime we came to a person, I'd tell her to just take one.  So she'd take her time trying to decide which goody she wanted and then she'd slowly take it and put it in her plastic pumpkin.  But then she'd say, "SISSY TOO, SISSY TOO", and reach for another one.  It was the sweetest thing.  She never takes anything without saying, 'sissy too'.  She knows to share, but she always takes it one step further. 

Sunday was a nice day overall (besides the car trouble).  Lilli had spent Saturday night with my parents, so my mom took her to her horse lesson for us.  We picked her up afterwards and then we went to Walmart to do a bit of shopping.  We headed for my parent's house after that and Lance cooked on the grill.  He made cheeseburgers, hot dogs and brats.  Everything was yummy.  I love cookouts, and it was such a nice day for one!

We also took a few pictures of the girls...Lilli, Lauren and Alyssa, in and around the old barn behind my parent's house.  They turned out really cute.  I may use one of them for Lauren's 2-year pictures.  Vicki took the good one of course, so I'll have to get it from her to make copies.  I'll try to post some of them on here in the next day or so.

Lance cleaned out some valve in the car and wanted me drive it home while he followed in the truck (w/ trailer in case of trouble).  Read on for that whole story:

On the way to South Haven on Saturday, my car started acting funny.  As soon as I got in it, it started revving funny.  It is a bit tempramental sometimes, so I didn't think a whole lot about and just figured I'd tell Lance about it when we returned home in the evening.

Well, on the road, it was making a funny noise everytime I pressed the gas.  I'd press the gas, and listen, press the gas, and listen...it was about the 5th time I did that, that I noticed there was smoke coming from the back of the car when I pressed the gas.  That couldn't be good.  I was about 5 miles from my parent's house and I tried calling Lance to ask what I should do and just tell him what was happening.  While I was leaving him a message, the oil light and the check-engine lights both came on at the same time.  Sigh.  That really can't be good.  We almost stalled at the stop sign so I gunned it and didn't stop again until we were at my parent's house.  It didn't stall, but it wasn't running very good.

My parents drove us to the resort for our trick-or-treat outing.  Then SIL Vicki brought us back to my parent's house afterwards, where Lance came and picked us up.

We left the car there Sat night and picked it up Sunday.  Lance thought it was a valve (I forget the proper name), and had planned to fix it for me.  However, after I drove it home, and the oil/engine lights came on again ( when we were only halfway here)...then it overheated and started smoking from under the hood when we did get home...well, we decided we aren't going to fix it after all.  He thinks it might be a blown head-gasket?  (I think that's what he said).  It's leaking oil...there's a puddle under it right now.  I don't have any clue what that all means except that it can't be good.

I'm very sad about the whole thing.  I love my Honda and hate to give it up.  It's been a great car and it has like 248,000 miles on it.  Sigh.

So, we sort of saw this coming and have been watching used cars lately.  We did not think it was going to happen so soon though! 

We are going to look at a vehicle tomorrow I think.  It's like a mini van, but it's called something else.  I can't remember what it's called...it looks like a minivan to me.  The extra seats will/would be nice, but I really hate that I'm losing my Honda.  Lance says that the mileage will be almost the same, but I'm not sure how that can be.  I told him I want to drive it before we commit.

Sigh.  Did I mention how sad I am?  :(  This sucks.

Menu Plan Monday (on Tuesday)

A few things before I post our weekly menu and plans...

Lilli and Lauren spent the entire weekend at my parent's house.  Lauren hasn't spent the night away since she was about 13 months old and we night-weaned.  My mom kept her overnight for me for a couple nights in a row to get us through the hardest part.  Well, she hadn't stayed anyplace since so I wasn't sure how she'd do. 

She did great.  I think she might have woke a couple times in the night for a drink but she does that at home too.  I am so glad that she did well, I am hoping she can stay overnight occasionally to give me a chance to get caught up on housework that is difficult to do while she's here with me.  We'll see.

Lilli spends the night at my parent's about once a week, so the whole weekend wasn't a big deal for her, but she was ready to come home on Sunday.

Alyssa (my niece) spent the entire weekend there too.  My brother had to work all weekend (and work really late), and my SIL was with me at the retreat.

The scrapbook retreat was great.  I did get quite a few pages done and I got a good start on my Disney album.  I tried 'stitching' on my pages for the first time this weekend and I am now addicted.  I really don't even sew very good, but it looks really cute on the paper.  LOL.  Who would have thought that I'd be stitching paper.  LOL.  It's all Vicki's fault, she wanted me to try it.  She is an enabler.  Ha.  Her pages are all awesome.  When I grow up, I want to be just like her ;)

The retreat is set up like a camp, with dorm-type rooms.  Our room had a set of bunkbeds, twin on top, full on bottom, and another twin bed.  Vicki slept up top, I slept on bottom, and a friend of ours slept in the other twin.

The retreat center was located in Bridgeman and was a great place.  We scrapped on the main floor and slept on the upper floor, so we didn't have to walk outside from our rooms to our scrap room.  We've had to do that before and it sucked (especially if it was raining or snowing).

The food was fantastic.  The best food I've had at a retreat.  Much of it was homemade and they were very 'open' about when you could eat.  It was laid out in a buffet style and they just left it there for an hour or so.  They even delayed breakfast on Sunday because there were only 3 of us awake at 8AM.  Saturday nights are usually the late night, with people still scrapping at 3 or 4AM.  (I'm not one of those people)

I am the early bird of the group and was the first one in bed on Friday night at 12:30AM.  Saturday I made it until 1:30AM and was the second one in bed.  I was the first one into the scraproom both mornings, Saturday at 6:30AM and Sunday at 7:30AM, Sunday I took my shower first and was still the first in there.  There were about 24-28 people there in all.

On Saturday night they made us a hot apple cider that was awesome.  It was called 'hot cinnamon-caramel apple cider.  They served it with fresh whipped cream.  It was fantastic.  They left it in a hot jug all night so that we could have it whenever we wanted.  Yum.

Lance spent the weekend at home resting.  He has gotten our cold and it's quite painful for him to cough, so he's been taking it easy.  Sneezing isn't so great either, so he's been pretty miserable for a few days now.  He did say he was feeling a bit better yesterday so hopefully he's on the mend.

Here is our tentative meal plan this week:

Monday:  Spaghetti and garlic toast (Lilli had parmesan noodles and garlic toast)

Tuesday:  Baked Chicken (BBQ?), mashed potatoes and gravy, broccolli (Lilli's request)

Wednesday:  Beef Stroganoff (crockpot) (the girls will eat in South Haven)

Thursday:  Roast, potatoes, carrots (crockpot)

Friday:  Fish Fry

Saturday:  Steak, hot dogs (grill), baked potatoes, peas

Sunday: leftovers (or leftovers on Sat and grill today)

Here are our plans for the week:

Monday:  Lance work 6-4, Lilli school 7:45-3:15.  Lauren and I picked up a few items at the Hartford Hardings after we dropped Lilli off at school, then came home for the day.  We were home for the evening as well, doing crafts and playing board games after Lilli's homework was done.

Tuesday:  Lance work, Lilli school.  Lauren and I are home for the day.  We'll pick Lilli up and then come home for the evening.  Games and crafts are on our agenda again, we had fun yesterday.

**my dad goes for his recheck with his back surgeon today, he's hoping to have some of his restrictions lifted...he has cabin fever.  :)

Wednesday:  Our busy day.  Lance work.  Lilli school.  Lauren playgroup 9:30-11AM in Lawrence.  Then I run Lauren to my parent's house and come back to volunteer at Lilli's school at noon.  The teacher has been keeping all afternoon, from noon until 3PM.  Then we'll head to my parent's after school to pick up Lauren and visit for a couple hours.

Thursday:  Lance work.  Lillli school.  Lilli dance from 6-8PM.  We plan for Lauren to stay home with Lance while we go to dance.

Friday:  Lilli school.  Lance might be off of work (he is on 4- 10 hour days), so we'll go cut wood (Lauren, Lance and I) during the day while Lilli is at school.  I guess if it's nice, we may go back after Lilli gets out of school too.  We'll see how the weather is, it's supposed to be nice according to the news this morning.

Saturday:  We'll work on getting wood and try to get Lilli to my parent's house sometime in the early afternoon.  She'll probably spend the night.

Sunday:  More wood gathering (our weekends will look like this for the next couple months) if it isn't raining.  Lilli has her horse lesson at 11.  We'll pick her up from her lesson and head to my parent's for a visit in the afternoon.

**A funny story.  I took Lauren to Hardings in Hartford yesterday morning after we dropped Lilli at school.  We were coming out with our things and the delivery guy from the Golden Brown Bakery stopped me and mentioned how beautiful she was and talked for a minute.  Then he asked if she could have chocolate.  I said sure, thinking he was going to send something home with her.  Nope.  He went to his truck and came back with two HUGE chocolate on chocolate donuts, freshly made at the bakery that morning, and HANDED THEM TO HER!  She was just thrilled as could be.  She said, "Thank-you, thank-you, thank- you, chocolate donuts chocolate donuts chocolate donuts".  She was so excited to have a huge donut in each hand that she didn't even take a bite for a minute.  It was very funny. 

Of course I couldn't take them from her, so she ate them all the way home (about 15 minutes).  You should have seen her face when we got home.  Oh, and her hair and clothes and car seat and shoes...LOL.  It was quite the mess, but she was so happy, it was very worth it.  I still can't believe that  he gave her those things.  LOL.   What a mess.  :)

Our week so far...

Happy Hump Day :)

Our week has been going by quickly. 

Monday we enjoyed a nice evening at home.  It was raining and the girls and I played board games most of the evening.  Ok, Lilli and I tried very hard to play board games (Monopoly JR, Guess Who, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Mr Mouth), while Lauren kept moving our little pieces around the boards or just taking them altogether.  LOL.  It was fun anyway, even for Lauren.  Lance rested a lot as he was feeling a cold coming on.  He decided not to return to work on Tuesday after all, and plans to return on Thursday instead.

We had Roast, Potatoes, and Carrots for supper.  Strawberry Shortcake for dessert.

Tuesday we enjoyed another evening at home.  Playing games and coloring took up much of our time.  Lance wasn't feeling well so he took it easy. 

Lance and I had Chicken Pot Pie for supper.  The girls had BBQ chicken, baked potatoes, and broccolli.  More Strawberry Shortcake for dessert.

**Sidenote to add that our 'homegrown' chickens are huge!  I made two chicken pot pies (in tall pie plates) PLUS enough BBQ chicken for about 4 or 5 meals!  All from one chicken!  YAY ON THAT!  Of course, plucking chicken off the bone isn't my most favorite thing to do, but it isn't the worst either.  Handling raw meat is definitely the worst for me.

Wednesday I took Lauren to Playgroup and then brought her home to stay with Lance for the afternoon while I volunteered at Lilli's school.  I've been there all afternoon the last two weeks and it looks like that might be the 'norm'.  I get there about noon and leave when school gets out.  We had another nice evening at home.

Lance and I had Chili for supper, Lauren had goulash, Lilli had parmesan noodles and broccolli.  Chocolate Chip Cookies for dessert.

Thursday looks to be a bit busier.  Lance is going back to work and Lilli has dance from 6-8PM.  Lauren will probably stay home with Lance during dance this week.  It's just hard to keep her occupied for 2 hours in that small and very crowded building.

I'm not sure what we'll have for supper, the fridge is full of leftovers so I'm not sure if I'll even cook, but we'll see what sounds good.

Friday is another busy one.  I am taking Lilli to school, then coming home to pack the car with my scrapbook things.  Then Lauren is going to my parent's house and SIL Vicki and I are leaving for our retreat.  My mom is going to pick Lilli up at school.  Lance might have the night to himself, I'm not sure if he plans to have the girls spend the night at my parent's Friday night or not.  I think Lauren might do ok if Lilli is there with her, but I'm really not sure.  She may not be 'ok' here at home either.  I haven't left her much and she is pretty clingy these days.  She does fine at my parent's house during the day, so I think she'd be alright at night, we just haven't tried.

Saturday I'll be at my retreat.  I'm not sure what Lance has planned, other than picking the girls up.

Sunday I'll be at my retreat until sometime in the afternoon.  Lilli has her horse riding lesson at 11.  I don't know what Lance has planned other than that.

*****************************************************************

The girls had a great time in the bathtub tonight.  I got out their bath paints and they painted the tub, the walls, and each other.  It was very cute.  I did get pictures but it takes me too long to upload to try that tonight.  The paints are actually soap so they had suds everywhere by the time they were done.  Poor Lauren kept wiping her face with her sudsy hands.  She just didn't understand how that kept happening.

Lauren went to bed at 7:35PM and fell asleep within 10 minutes.

Lilli went to bed at 7:50 and was already asleep when I checked on her at 8PM.

They are always ready for bed, and Lilli has actually been asking to go to bed by 7:45 or so.  I think getting up early and just school in general is wearing her out.  She gets up great in the mornings, other than just saying she's a bit tired when I first wake her.  Lauren has no trouble getting up in the mornings and we're lucky if we are still in bed at 6:30AM. 

I must say that she's been sleeping A LOT better since having her tonsils out.  It is almost unbelievable how much more sleep we're getting now.  She has never slept through the night.  When she was first born, she woke to nurse, then once we night-weaned, she woke for a drink.  Up until her surgery, she was waking 3-6 times per night.  She'd get a drink and go right back to sleep, but she was still waking up.  I just attributed it to her antibiotic that she's on EVERY SINGLE DAY for her kidney reflux.  I figured it made her thirsty.  I guess that might still be true, but once she got over her 2 weeks of screaming after her tonsilectomy, she started sleeping through the night without waking at all.  Maybe once, but not asking for a drink.  I find this incredible since we have gone 2 years now with the same nightly routine.  The ENT said it was from 'sleep apnea', and that she was waking herself up when she caught her breath at night.  I am just grateful to have a good night's sleep now.  Well, she hasn't been sleeping all that great this week since she has a cold, but it's not too bad.  LOL

On suppers...I know a lot of people don't agree with making multiple dishes for picky children.  I just wanted to say that we don't have much choice in our house.  Lilli has acid reflux (and is just plain picky) and can't eat a lot of the foods I cook.  I always make sure she has something available that she likes and will eat.  I just plan ahead for it and it works out fine.  Lauren is not picky at all right now and will eat anything we are eating.  Goulash, broccolli, and roast being particular favorites.

A day at the zoo (Saturday, 9-27-08) (2 pics)

**I had more pictures but they aren't uploading :(

We had a great family day on Saturday.  We all went to the Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek, Michigan for the day.  Lance is still a bit sore, but he had a nice time and we just took it slow.  Lauren walked for much of the time, so it was slow-going anyway.

Lilli loves the zoo.  She really enjoys the small aquariums with the snakes and other small animals in them.  I think her favorite thing to do is climb on all the animal statues that are placed throughout the zoo.  She still loves to feed the giraffes too.

Lauren loved it all.  She hasn't been there since she has started understanding about critters and such.  She loved it.  She ran and ran and ran (and picked up rock after rock after rock...LOL).  She took in all the animals and climbed all the statues with Lilli.  I think her favorite was the giraffes.  It was so funny to see her pull away excitedly when the giraffes touched her with their long tongues.  She kept going back for more, it was so funny.

I really enjoy the 'swamp walk', but the mosquitos were too bad to go that way this time.  I am glad we didn't do it though, as Lance was on his feet for too long as it was.

The zoo has a new snow leopard cub, but he wasn't on display the day we were there.   Lilli and I were especially bummed about that.

Lauren fell asleep before we left the zoo and slept for the next 3 hours without waking at all.  LOL.  I guess we wore her out.

It's sort of a tradition for us to head up there for their annual zoo boo, so we'll probably be going back in a few weeks to trick or treat.

S'mores (pics)

We really enjoy having a small fire about once a week, though I'm sure Lilli would like to have one every night :)

We have one about once a week, usually on Friday evenings, but this week it was on Sunday afternoon/early evening.

We don't do anything special, we just start a fire in our pit (which we hope to create a ring of rocks around soon) and then watch the fire for a bit.  We usually eat hot dogs or brats cooked over the open fire, then we roast marshmallows and make S'mores.  We all enjoy this time around the fire, even if it only lasts a half hour or so. 

We always start our fire early, long before dark, and then put the fire out long before dark.  It's fun anyway and the girls love it.  Lilli asks for a fire often, and it's one of her favorite things to do.

This is a cheap and highly entertaining activity that we all enjoy. 

I really just wanted to post my pictures of the girls eating their S'mores.  :)

Meal Plan Monday

We had a great week last week.  It's nice having Lance home and I'm going to miss him when he goes back to work tomorrow :(

Lauren has a cold and is a bit cranky, but doing well as far as her tonsils go.

Lilli has a cough brought on by her acid reflux and she's currently on Augmentin to get rid of it (it's in her sinuses now...the acid creeps up into her sinuses causing a sinus infection...hence the cough that never goes away without meds).  She is doing much better though.  She still coughs with any physical activity and occasionally at night, but it's a lot better than it was.

Lance is doing good, but he's still sore from his surgery.  He had a root canal on Friday, but he really hasn't mentioned it much.  Everytime I ask if it hurts he says no, but that it feels funny.  The dentist gave him stronger pain meds than the hernia Dr (??).  The hernia Dr gave him Tylenol 3 w/ Codeine, and barely enough to last two days.  The dentist gave him Vicodin, and I think it has a refill.  LOL

I have a bit of a cold but nothing major.  Just enough that I'm worried about being around my dad with it though.  We don't need to do anything that will put him back in the hospital.

We are eating out of our freezers and pantry (exclusively) this week, so our menu is pretty basic, with a lot of our 'regular' dishes in it.  Lance doesn't get paid for his time off (though he will eventually get a percentage for comp pay).  We don't have any plans to go to the grocery store in the next week or two.  We'll pick up milk and deli meat and fresh fruit/veggies at neighbors stands, but no big shopping trips.

We don't have a lot of leftover nights planned this week as Lance will be taking his lunch to work and he has a microwave, so he can take the leftovers and warm them instead of having cold sandwiches for his lunch.

Here is our tentative menu:

Monday:  Roast, potatoes, carrots (crockpot)

Tuesday:  Chicken pot pie (homemade via hillbillyhousewife.com w/ a few changes)

Wednesday:  Chili (for Lance and I) and Goulash (for the girls)

Thursday:  Beef Stroganoff (crockpot)

Friday:  Leftovers or grill (depending on weather)

Saturday:  Leftovers or grill

Sunday:  Leftovers or grill

Our week looks pretty good and not over busy this week.

Monday:  Lilli has school, Lance is home (his last day home).  For me:  A real home day!  I'm still in my pajamas at 3PM!!!  WOOHOO!  I didn't figure I should get dressed and stain my clothes while canning tomatoes, so here I am  (I have a crummy cold too, so I don't feel like doing much).  Lance took Lilli to school this morning and just left to pick her up.  I can't remember the last time I had a real stay-home and sit in my jammies day.  I even watched a movie!  50 First Dates.  It was great.  I really liked it.  I think Lance did too, but he had to leave the room twice because he was laughing too hard and his incision started hurting.  I felt bad for him, but I was laughing so hard (at the movie) that I wasn't much help.  LOL

No plans this afternoon, a nice, relaxing day overall.

Tuesday:  Lilli has school.  Lance goes back to work after 2 weeks off.  He'll be working 10 hour days this week.  A home day other than that.

Wednesday:  This is our busy day.  Lilli has school.  Lance has work (10 hours).  Lauren has playgroup from 9:30-11AM.  Then I run her to my parent's house (super-fast) and I volunteer at Lilli's school at noon.  Last week I was at the school for 2 1/2 hours, so I'm not real sure how long I'll be there each week.  I guess it depends on what the teacher needs done.  After school, Lilli and I will go pick up Lauren and visit with my parents for a couple hours before coming home in time for tubbies.

**Sidenote to add that if Lauren is still sick on Tuesday, then I am cancelling my volunteer time at the school for Wednesday, and staying home with her in the afternoon.  She can't be around my dad with her cold and I don't want mom coming and watching her and taking the cold back to dad.  So we'll see how she's feeling tomorrow.

Thursday:  Lilli has school.  Lance has work (10 hours).  Then Lilli goes to dance from 6-8PM. 

** another side note to add that her friend from school signed up for dance and will now be taking Tap class with her.  Lilli is very excited about that.  This is the friend that Lilli invited to 'bring a friend' week last week.

Friday:  Lilli has school.  Lance has work (10 hours). 

I am going on a scrapbook retreat!  WOOHOO!  I am very excited.  I can't remember when I last scrapped.  I am very excited.  It's been planned for a couple months now and I thought I'd have to cancel when Lance had his surgery, but he's doing well and has been doing chores for a couple days now.

Lauren will go to my parent's houes whenever we (SIL Vicki and I) leave on Friday, and hopefully mom can pick Lilli up after school for me.  Otherwise, I'll have to wait to leave for the retreat until after Lilli is out of school.  We'll see how it goes.  I hate to ask my mom to pick Lilli up when she'll already have Alyssa and Lauren.  We'll just see how it goes.

Saturday and Sunday:  I'll be at my retreat and I'm not sure what Lance has planned with the girls.  Lilli plans to spend one night with my parents, but I'm not sure which night.  Lilli also has her horse lesson on Sunday morning.  I should be home sometime Sunday afternoon.

A bushel of tomatoes...

I thought I would post a yield for our tomatoes in case I ever need a reference in the future.

One bushel of tomatoes...that is two 1/2 bushel baskets packed to the top, but not really overflowing much.

One bushel makes between 19-21 quarts of tomatoes. 

Yesterday the tomatoes were smaller and the yield was 20 quarts.

Today the tomatoes were bigger (but with several bad spots that had to be cut out) and the yield was 21 quarts.

I peel and cut the tomatoes and Lance packs the jars and gets the canners going on the stove, then we clean up.  It's a mutual effort.  I can't get the air out of the jars as well as he can, so even if he's at work, I'll pack the jars and wait to cook them until he gets home to get the air out.  Today is his last day home (he's still home from his hernia surgery), he goes back to work tomorrow.  I'm going to miss him :(

I think we are going to do another bushel of tomatoes, and then get another bushel (or two) to make spaghetti sauce.  We are almost out of quart jars though, so we may have to use pints.  This is the first year that we've done green beans AND peaches AND tomatoes.  I'd really like to do a little salsa too, but I doubt that is going to happen.

Tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, squash, and applesauce are all on our 'agenda'.  We plan to dry apples this year too.  Lilli especially loves the dried apples, and it takes awhile to start storing them as we tend to eat them as they get done.  LOL

Canning Tomatoes :)

Well the pressure canner is currently jiggling away on the stove while I type.  I love that sound.  LOL

We canned 7 quarts of tomatoes two weeks ago, but that was as far as we got that day. 

We have two canners going on the stove right now, with 7 quarts of tomatoes in each of them.  We have another 5-7 quarts of tomatoes ready to pack into jars once our canners are empty and the dishwasher stops it's cycle with freshly cleaned jars.

We plan to pick up another half bushel tomorrow, maybe a whole bushel, but we'll have to see.

We are buying our tomatoes from a neighbor's veggie stand as our garden has been overtaken by weeds.  I take full responsibility for that.

Tomatoes are $7 per half bushel (I think they are half bushel baskets, and not whole bushels, but I'm not really sure.  They can't be $7 per bushel.).

We hope to accumulate 100+ quarts to use this year, that is how many we've done the past few years and that is just about right for us.

We did get a few from MIL when she moved to Florida, so we have those quarts to add to our small amount left from last year, plus 7 from two weeks ago, and 14 cooking now.  We should be about 3/4 of the way done with canning them now, but I'll have to do a final count when I put these quarts away.

Woohoo, there's the timer.  Another 14 quarts for our winter stockpile :)

A creepy spider story...

Ok, I'll start my story by saying that I'm not all that scared of spiders.  I don't really like them, but I don't usually freak out either. 

I really do not like those big ones though.  The ones that are big and furry, or the ones that are big and creepy looking.  LOL

That being said, I have to tell you about what happened the other night.

I snuck off into our bathroom to take a bath.  Yes, I have to sneak or I have company in the bathtub and I really wanted a nice long, super hot soak by myself.  Well I get in there, and there's a big, creepy spider hanging part way out of one of the jets in the tub.  He had two or four legs inside the jet, and the others sticking straight out.  He was not dead, but was very still.  I backed out of the bathroom and asked Lance to come take care of something for me.  Of course he knew right away what I needed and he was in no hurry at all (Lance is more scared of spiders than I am, but he takes care of the big ones anyway).

Ok, so now we have Lance, me, Lilli, and Lauren all staring at this creepy spider half inside the jet.  Lance gets a paper towel to get him with, and he goes into the jet. 

Sigh.  Now do you really think I want to take a bath with that thing in the jet?  Yea, you bet.

So Lance starts filling the tub so we can blow him out of the jets.  It takes quite a long time to fill our tub over the jets, but we get it there and we all go back into the bathroom to watch for the spider to be blown out.  Yes, it really was that entertaining.

So we turn the jets on.  They are really powerful jets.  No spider.  We wait a few minutes.  No spider.  I'm starting to question Lance about the piping to see if the spider could have gone someplace else after entering the jet, but he assures me that there is no place else the spider could be, other than in that jet, that was on, with high pressure, for several minutes now.

At this time we are starting to wonder if he came out and climbed the nearby curtains while we were filling the tub (we were in the other room for a few minutes).

About that time (8-10 minutes after the jets were turned on), the spider flies out into the tub.  Huge spider.  He's not dead.  He grabs onto the water intake and starts crawling around like he has no problem with being under water.  We turn off the jets and just watch him for a minute.  I'm getting a little more freaked out by the minute.  How can he live in the water? 

I got a pair of old bbq tongs for Lance and he got the spider out of the water with them.  The spider is no worse for wear and fights the tongs that he's being held with.  We flush him down the toilet, but now I wonder if he's even dead there.  Lance assures me that he's gone now, but honestly, it's a creepy thing knowing he could live under water? 

Lilli  says it was a water spider.  (We've seen these around the house several times, and never in the water).

That just creeps me out.

I didn't take a bath that night, nor have I taken one since.  I'm pretty sure I'll stick to showers for a few days.

Ick.