Cookies!

Head on over to my Thrifty Mom In Boise facebook page today where I posted a link to 50 thumbprint cookie recipes!  So many to choose from, I'm not sure where to start.  I might have to try some out this weekend.  

Yum, yum, yum!!!

Parenting

Parenting can be a tough gig.  I feel quite qualified to speak on this particular subject as I have been both a parent and a child.  By the time my youngest graduates from high school, class of 2021, I will have been full on parenting children for 35 years!!

Phew!  No wonder I'm tired.

That is the longest I've ever held any one job, that's for sure!  It is also the lowest paying job I've ever had.  In fact, this job actually costs me money!  Wait a minute!  I have to have a whole other job in order for me to keep this one.  Sounds kind of odd if you put it that way.

Not only is the pay lousy, but the hours are looooong.  24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, and guess what?  There is no end in sight!  Let's face it, you're in it for the long haul!  This is no job for wimps.

Kids don't come with instructions, there is no owner's manual.  You can do your best to be prepared, but it pretty much boils down to on-the-job training.  And just when you think you've got it figured out the job description changes.  I mean one day you are cruising right along and then it does a 180 and you are going "What the....?"

Yep, you better be on your toes.

Children are the harshest critics too, and they aren't afraid to let you know when you screw up too.  It usually starts with a quivering lip, followed by really big tears.  And if you are super lucky a full on tantrum in a public place should clue you in.  Just in case you weren't fully paying attention to how they were really feeling.  And I've seen some teenager's scowls that will make even the toughest parent weak in the knees.  They could peel paint off the walls sometimes.

We are certainly not perfect, hard as we try.  Far from it.  There are always those days when we drop the ball and don't quite live up to expectations.  When suddenly we take a nosedive and go from best parent in the whole wide world to the worst parent's ever!  It is rough, I tell you.

I don't think you can truly appreciate your own parents until you become one.  It is only then that you become aware of the enormous responsibility of being a parent, the constant worry that your children will be okay, they'll be safe, they'll turn out alright, that the sheer number of mistakes we make won't completely screw them up for life.  And believe me, there are a lot of mistakes to be made along the way.

So who in their right mind would sign up for a job like this?  Well no one in their right mind would!  I think that is the point.  Because only the bravest of the brave can do this job.  Those that are strong in spirit, with loads of unconditional love to give out and the strength to ride out any storm.  The ability to nurture and care for another human being.  I mean you have teach them the things they'll need to know to grow up and do it themselves and call you some day and say "holy crap, how did you do it?"

And then you can smile, cause now you are a grandparent, and well....  payback is a..... 

But seriously, it is the best job I've ever had.  I love my children with everything that I am and never do I regret my decision to be their mom.  I am so incredibly grateful that God saw fit to bless me the way that he has.  Because at the end of the day, this job Rocks!!!

And I've got some really great kids!

So please, feel free to share your feelings about being a parent.  Tell us a funny story or something you are really proud of.  What is the best, or worst, part of your parenting journey.  Whatever you want to share!  

Freezer Clean Up - Week #1

This week I decided it was time to clean out some of the things we've been squirreling away in our kitchen freezer.  Lots of plastic containers filled with leftovers or various odds and ends.  I took several containers and set them on the counter. 

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Biscuits made from scratch

It was cold, wet and rainy on Sunday and we were all craving a big bowl of hot soup.  I defrosted a chicken breast half in the microwave and chopped up some onion and celery.  I cooked up a package of egg noodles and drained them in a colander.  Then I sauteed the chicken, celery and onion in the same pot I cooked the noodles in.  I added a container of chicken broth from the freezer, water, a packet of chicken gravy mix, a partial leftover package of peas & carrots, a can of corn and a tablespoon of dried parsley.  I brought that to a simmer and added the noodles.  I also made up a nice batch of homemade whole wheat biscuits.

Sunday - Chicken Noodle Soup & Biscuits

Sliced pork with green chile enchilada sauce

Monday - I had thawed a couple boneless pork chops I found in the freezer.  I sliced it up and added a container of leftover green chile sauce I had in the freezer as well.  I made up some rice and served the Pork Verde over it with a little grated cheese and some sour cream.  I also made a salad.

Tuesday - I thawed a container of Thai Curry Soup that was in the freezer.  We had some leftover chicken from Saturday so I sliced it up and added it to the soup and heated it all up on the stove.  It made for a quick and very delicious supper and we had leftover salad from the night before to go with it.

A salad to go with all of this yummy soup

Wednesday - Leftover Chicken Noodle Soup & Biscuits, a quick reheat in the microwave and supper was on the table.

Thursday - I thawed a container of Split Pea Soup as well as a small container of ham broth and heated that up while a pan of cornbread baked in the oven.  My youngest doesn't care for pea soup so she had leftover Chicken Noodle Soup.

Friday - Next up was a Cool Whip container filled with leftover sausage and mushroom spaghetti sauce. We cooked up a little pasta and tossed it with the container of leftover spaghetti sauce.  Sprinkled with parmesan it made for a quick and tasty supper.

Saturday - Two small containers of leftover Taco Soup I had pulled from the freezer went into a pot to heat up.  It was the perfect amount for the three of us.  We had leftover cornbread from the other night to go with it too.

It was definitely a week of soups, that is for sure, and we loved every bit of it.  We are a soup loving family so for us this is definitely not a hardship, ha, ha.  We had plenty of leftover leftovers which made for easy and delicious lunches too.

And cupcakes too!

I have some space in the freezer now and I'm really glad to see food isn't going to waste.  Plus it gave me a nice break from having to do much preparation or cooking, mostly a lot of reheating.

Surprisingly I still have a lot of odds and ends in the freezer so we'll be enjoying yet another week of eating from the freezer.  You'll have to tune in next week to see what we ended up eating for supper.

Knifty Knitter

I am not a great knitter, simply for the fact that I've never really learned much past the basic knit and purl stitches.  I have a heck of a time reading and understanding patterns, both for knitting or crocheting, so I've never really pursued it and tried to be good at it.  What I did invest in several years ago was a very colorful set of knitting looms because, for whatever reason, using these makes sense to me.

I have both the round set and the long set and so far the only ones I've use are the round ones.  I'd like to be using them on a regular basis, but time seems to be a factor here.  I run out of it and I have so many other projects going on.  I really want to use these more because I've discovered so many things you can make with these things.

I have yet to use these 😐

Last winter when I was down with my back I spent some of my recovery time researching knitting and crochet projects on Youtube, including using knitting looms.  

Did you know you can make socks with these looms?  I had no idea, but I really want to make some socks.  And the best part is there are a ton of videos on Youtube showing me how to make them so no patterns or instructions for me to try to read.  Pinterest is also loaded with ideas too, but again, it all boils down to time. (sigh)

How cute is this?!  Sadly the link led to the wrong instructions
I'll figure out where to get them though 😃

Hats are the things I've made the most and my girls have made scarves with them.  I usually crochet scarves, but I'd like to knit some.  I also want to make sweaters, shrugs, ponchos, blankets, I have a huge list.

This is super cute - click here to get to a neat blog about Knitting With Looms

My hope now is to spend some time creating and completing some knitted projects in the next few years and learning to make things I have never made before.  Who knows, maybe someday I'll master reading and understanding those silly patterns.

I think Laverne has room for this

Needless to say, along with my sewing supplies and machine I'll be leaving some space to put my looms and some yarn into the motorhome.  I'll also add my knitting needles and crochet hooks and I'm pretty sure I'll have room to take my vintage standing knitting bag along.  It isn't very big and I found it on eBay last year.  I love it.

Last Week's Thrifty Moves

Sunday morning I finished a couple more Christmas sewing projects using the fabric I had bought on sale last spring and other things I already had on hand.  They were also my last two handmade projects to complete.  Yaaay!

We are having a week of eating from our freezer where I've squirreled away quite an assortment of leftovers and other odds and ends.  It has proven to be both rather delicious, not to mention simple and extremely thrifty.  I also had enough produce on hand to keep us in salads.

Containers I pulled out of the freezer for last week's meals

I emptied the last of the dish soap from the big refill bottle into a smaller one.  I added water to the larger one and gave it a good shake to use up the soap residue still clinging inside the bottle.  We were able to wash dishes for five days with that super soapy water.

I laminated the sliver of soap from the shower to a brand new bar so we could use it all up.  I cut open my tube of face cream so I could use up the last of it.

Monday evening I went to the library and returned two books and checked out two more.  Murder mysteries.  Love them!  I stayed and used their internet and my laptop to get caught up of my time, but it also saved me a little fuel in the car by not having to make an extra trip.

Mulching leaves

Wednesday I went to Home Depot and bought a leaf blower/vacuum/mulcher that was on sale.  The youngest and I put it together, then went outside and turned a mountain of leaves into a single compost bin full to set at the curb for collection.

Not a big hole yet

Simple tools

My kitty caught his toenail in the sleeve of my red sweater and snagged it.  When I went to fix the snag I noticed a small hole.  I decided I'd better fix it quick so it didn't try to unravel.  After pulling the snag taut as best I could I used a needle threader to pull what remained of the snag to the inside of the sleeve.  I then used a needle and red thread to catch all the little loops and fix the hole.  Three stitches later and you can't even tell there was a mishap.

All better!  Can't even tell there was a hole!

I downloaded a few digital grocery coupons to my Fred Meyer rewards card.  I also printed off three more from coupons.com.

The only grocery shopping I did last week was to stop in at Fred Meyer and pick up some milk ($1.29) and two Friday Freebies I'd downloaded.

I used a cake mix and frosting I'd bought on sale a couple months ago 😋

Saturday the girls and I really hit a brick wall.  All of our busyness caught up with us in a big way so we took the day off.  I binge watched Youtube videos and the girls got caught up on their homework.  I baked cupcakes in the afternoon and we watched a couple movies.  The girls also got in some much needed reading time.  The only chores we did were dishes, laundry and taking care of our pets.  We never even got out of our pajamas.

How was your thrifty week?

I Bought A New Toy

Pretty crazy that I follow up a decluttering post with "I bought something!" but what I got is a new tool to help us maintain our home more efficiently.  It is a Toro leaf blower/vacuum/mulcher and I am super excited about it!

Our usual routine
My daughter smashing the leaves down into the bin

For years I have waffled over whether or not to buy a leaf blower.  This year we are on week four of "managing" the leaves and it still looks like we haven't done a blasted thing.  And we haven't even started on our elderly neighbor's yard yet.  At this rate, setting out two curbside compost bins per week, we'll be at it until June!  Plus our backyard compost bin is heaped full.

I ordered the blower online from Home Depot and stopped on my way home from work Wednesday to pick it up.  Once the leaves are blown into a pile you suck them up and mulch them into the bag and then dump the bag into the bin.  It reduces the mass by 88%.  Once the leaves are mulched they'll breakdown and compost much easier, plus I'll be able to spread them out and use them to mulch the flower beds right away.  And I put some in the chicken's pen area so they can scratch around in them and it will help control the mud and manure much better.

Last night I blew all the leaves up against the fence
Then I converted to the vacuum and sucked them up mulching them into the bag

We'll most likely suck the leaves out of our backyard compost bin and mulch them, then put them back so they'll break down faster.  I also plan to fill up our old trash can with some mulch to have on hand and use as we need.

Finished product - I was amazed

I expect this new tool has already paid for itself in saving me time and labor as well as helping me with the dilemma of what to do with all of these leaves each year.  Plus I can use it to blow snow off of the vehicles and walk ways this winter.  That powdery stuff shouldn't be a problem.  The wetter stuff we'll still need to shovel.  I'll let you know.  

So a multi tasking tool!  Yay!  So far I give this one a BIG thumbs up!

More Decluttering

I thought I'd done a good job when I last decluttered, but it seems you can always find more things to get rid of.  I started with that one item always seems to grow out of control - paper.

I sorted and put most of it into the recycle bin and was left with a small stack of items that should be shredded.  Since we don't own a shredder I burn these in our fire pot in our backyard.  It was a cool, wet and rainy day on Sunday so I went ahead and put them in the firepot and lit a match along with a nice handful of leaves and some sticks.  That made quick work of that chore.

The best way to declutter in the sewing area is to finish up a stack of unfinished projects.  I did exactly that over the weekend putting together gifts for upcoming birthdays and Christmas.  I managed to get rid of good sized stack of fabric I'd purchased earlier in the year as well as another good sized stack of works in progress.  It feels really good to have all of those gifts completed.  I still have more supplies and more projects in mind, but for now I am quite satisfied with where I am at.

After I finished sewing I went through all of my patterns and purged nearly half of them.  I also sorted through all of my sewing pins to get rid of the dull ones as well as a few with melted heads on them from being touched by the iron.

I took apart my magnetic pin keeper and washed it to remove all the fuzz, lint, bits of thread and accumulated debris that had collected inside of it.  By the time I was done it looked practically brand new.

I sorted through one of my button jars and tossed out a handful of tarnished ones that didn't look very nice.  I then used up several others to embellish some plain knit gloves.

I'm decluttering the freezer on the side of our kitchen refrigerator by using up the items inside.  Over the past few months we've squirreled away quite a lot of food in plastic freezer containers.  I've got soups, a quiche and lots of odds and ends that could be used to make other things.  It will likely take a bit more than a couple weeks to use up all of those things that are in there and I'll be sharing what we end up doing with all of that food as we work our way through it.

When I put our Halloween decorations away I purged some of the fall and Halloween decor we no longer need or want.  That along with the patterns and a pair of my youngest daughter's shoes will be dropped off at the thrift store for donation in the next couple of weeks.

Are any of you doing any purging or decluttering in your homes right now?  Doesn't it seem like a never ending process?