Wild Archie

We DVR'd all the new Discovery Channels Wild Pacific shows. It's not just Alex and I who like to watch them.



He will sit for the entire hour watching the TV like this.

Just slap it on your ass and say Dessert is served.

I made you something today my friends. It is moist and airy and creamy and yummy and soft. And it is an original Nicole recipe.

Banana Cake with Sex Frosting

Be prepared to love this, and eat it, and frost your body with the icing for your someone special to lick. Seriously, who knew banana cake could be so sexy? Okay here goes with the how to:

Banana Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 stick room temperature butter, REAL butter
• 1 3/4 cups brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 3 medium bananas that are REALLY ripe, mushed
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp Vanilla ( I use vanilla paste, which is fantabulous!)*
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt

The Making:

1. Cream together the room temperature butter and the sugars. Mine came out crumbly, but very soft to the touch.
2. Add in the eggs, banana mush and vanilla. Beat until well incorporated.
3. Combine in a separate bowl the flour, baking soda and salt.
4. Add to the wet mix in small batches, beating till combined in between. ( I personally, just dumped it all in at once, but that was only because I did it on accident).
5. Poor into a 13x9 cake pan that is sprayed with Non stick bake spray.
6. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Really you need to test it to see if a tooth pick comes out clean. So your time may vary.
7. Cool completely before frosting, I know this is the hard part, but you don't want this frosting to melt. Trust me on this step.

The Sex Frosting**

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. room temperature Cream Cheese. MUST be room temp!
• 1 stick room temperature butter, once again real butter.
• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar ( I just eyeballed half a bag, if not a little less)
• 1 TBSP Vanilla
• 1/2 cup Heavy Whipping Cream ( Milk is not a substitute in this recipe, because you want this to WHIP up).

The Making:

1. Cream together the Cream Cheese and Butter.
2. Add the Vanilla, beat together.
3. Add the powdered sugar, beat till incorporated, scrapping the sides of the bowl every once in a while. You don't want to end up with caked on walls of sugar. Ewww.
4. While beating on high speed, add the Heavy Whipping cream in small batches, till you have the consistency you want. I let mine whip away on high speed for a minute or two. You want lots of air in the icing. But don't over whip or else it will start to firm up.
5. Apply to cool cake or body parts.

Seriously folks, my goal with the icing was to make a Cream Cheese Whipped Cream. And this is IT! The icing is amazingly light with a subtle taste. I wanted to avoid the standard Cream Cheese icing that you could spackle a wall with. Just a small warning, you will have HUGE amounts of icing, meaning you could easily ice a two layer cake and still be able to lick the bowl.

Enjoy!

* I buy my Vanilla Bean Paste from William Sonoma. And then I add it to everything I can.

** Okay, so I didn't set out to make a sex filled recipe, but ummm, licking this icing off my fingers and my cake fork was great. Plus any icing that can make Cream Cheese sexy is on my top 10 list. This is probably in my top 3.

I do declare it's a no Zombie Toy Day.

The beginnings of dinner: carrots, zucchini, crock neck squash, asparagus, and snap peas.

Yesterday at 5:05pm, I declared it a No Zombie toy 24 hour period, meaning we were not allowed to watch TV ( zombie inducing), play any video games ( including the DS and Wii), or play on the computer( except for an hour this morning for me to get work done, and a couple of 5 minute snatches to check emails) till 5:05pm tonight.

All tossed in a tablespoon of olive oil and herbs de Provence.

It went over surprisingly well, there were no tears or angry words or pouts, just a question of what shall we ever do?

Our veggies were paired with a small brisket sandwich and an hour of cajoling for him to finish.

So we made a very yummy and filling dinner, set up the ipod to fill our ears, we started laundry that had been languishing, cleaned up rooms, ordered the kitchen and watched the thunderstorm as it rolled in and brought some much needed rain.

The bowl of melon was huge, the boy was cute and the game was oh so fun.

After dinner and the rain, we headed to the library because it was open late last night. We filled our bag with books, came home and challenged each other to Guess Who while we ate up some watermelon.

This mornings fill, Bolthouse farms Mocha Cappuccino and Ezekiel cinnamon raisin bread.

I find myself up early this morning because I had to fill the pool before the pool guys come to repair a leak we have. But I wouldn't have been up if not for a small bout of insomnia last night, which luckily had me up when the power went out in the entire subdivision. I climbed out of bed at 1am, peered down the dark street that was flooded with full moon light, fetched my cell, set an alarm, and drifted off to the sleep while listening for the fan to come back on, a sure sign that power had returned. But instead I woke before my alarm, dragged the trash to the curb, made something to fill my belly, and find myself here while waiting for Alex to wake.

An Ode to Betty

Dear Betty, sweet sweet Betty,

We love your curly black fur and how it ends up all over the house. You are adorable in your persistent habits to get our attention, which we happily give when you are having your "awake" time. Your wet nose to our cheeks and ragged tongue to our ankles are your loving calling cards. Which always make us smile and giggle and fall to the floor to be close to you.

You have been aging quickly this past year, something that we have been keeping an eye on since the quick passing of Twain. You sleep most of the day, rarely rousing while the house is going crazy around you. You have your snug spots by the couch, upstairs in my office, in the yellow bed in our room. We know that we can find you there pretty much anytime. Unless you are doing your flipping rolling wiggling dance downstairs. We love to watch you amble around the yard on your walk abouts. How you can smell something new even though you can no longer see it. We love your Brontosaurus Betty move because it is always delivered with love. We loved teaching you how to climb stairs and that the couch was the best place to be. We love that you always know when there are treats especially if it is a sandwich. Your nose is a force to be reckoned with dear Betty!

We have been worrying about you and trying to make each moment of the time we have together full of love and pets and small treats. Thank you for peeking out at Alex when we were at the Shelter. Thank you for opening up to us after other people had been so horrendous to you. Thank you for trusting us enough to let us love you. You, dear sweet Betty, have been Our Rambalam Black Betty, and we love you.

With Cheetos and Salami,

Your Boyles Family.

One more day

One day till I have 11 days of bliss. Where I will...

• hopefully finish the painting downstairs. I found color inspiration in a Father's Day card.
• end every day floating in the pool
• celebrate Father's Day belated with my Pops and My Mister Man at the top.
• purge my closet of the baggage that is clothing that I will never wear again even if I fit back into it.
• wake early just because I want too.
• play the Wii, making it a family event.
• teach Alex about the fine art of letter writing.
• plan a new year of scouts.
• finish a couple financial books.
• perfect fried chicken.
• use the elliptical with a smile on my face.
• hold Archie and Bella as they doggie paddle in the pool.
• finish my waking parts of the day with a G'night and a snuggle with Casey.

Doing what Needs to Be Done

Yesterday, I lolled around being bored. I followed Casey around, I played with the dogs, I zoned on the computer, I ignored many many things around me. Till Casey gave me this sage advice, When you are bored, stop and look around the room you are in, and do what needs to be done.

Well today Alex and I took that into play since Casey was prepping and Alex was spacing out on the TV. We took pictures of the rooms that we were both in and then pointed out the various things to each other about their rooms that needed to be done. Time limit was an hour. Which ended up being extended to an hour and half. :)

And we got so much done!

Alex's Playroom before.

Alex's Playroom After

Alex got alot picked up in his playroom and ended up taking out two bags of donations and a bag of trash. I was FINALLY able to vacuum and clean his ceiling fan. Yes, he still has alot of stuff, but we are slowly working on culling out the junk toys and the things he no longer plays with. Really our main struggle is the sheer amount of Legos he has.

Our Bedroom before.

Our Bedroom Before.

Our Bedroom After.

The other Done side of the room.

My cleaned out and reorganized vanity.

I tackled the mountain of clean laundry that had been waiting for days. Gathered all the random dirty piles and put them in waiting baskets. Made the bed, dusted and wiped down everything, vacuumed and cleaned the ceiling fan. And then I purged my vanity, lined it with drawer paper and wiped it all down. I still need to wash the dog beds, cycle through some laundry, and iron the curtains, but it is so much better than it was.

I have to say that I am continually amazed at how much I can SEE needs to be done when I just look. And then how much I CAN get done if I just do it. I actually have the urge to finish painting the bedroom doors, which have been waiting for 4 years. :)

Honesty

I have times when I have so much to say, but say nothing. Not a peep.
I have times when everything good and bad falls into blandness. Just a beige world.
I have times when I question the person who I am. Am I who I think I am?

I have used this blog in the past as a happy filter. Posting only what paints me and my life in rainbow colors. Now and then I slipped in some dark and grey, but I mostly showed my blog what I thought I had to show. This self censoring has distorted my reality, to the point where I think and honestly feel that all is okay even when things are crumbling around me. I have created a fake life, a fake me, and I do not like either one.

I need honesty. I need to BE honest.

I have problems.
I am a liar.
I have neglected my family.
I have ignored my promises.
I have buried my head in the sand.
I have faked it till I believed it.
I have crept so far into my own head that I ignored my body.
I need to grow up.
I am my parents child and I need to GROW from that, not wallow in it.
I need to be proud of me.

I hope that my words will come back around to rainbow paintings, that things will be bright and shiny. But mostly I hope that those words are the complete reality. I am no longer going to censor myself here.

Please bear with me as I change and do the right thing. Please bear with the dark and grey as I work towards a clearer Nicole.

Steve the Hedgehog

Alex got a hedgehog this past weekend. We had looked into a hedgehog as a pet around his birthday but decided it was just too expensive to start. But when you put out to the world that you want a hedgehog, sometimes the world gives you your wish.

Kim had a friend who needed to find a home for one of her hedgehogs, apparently Steve is not friendly with other males. So this past Saturday Steve made his way to our family with everything he needs to live.
He was a bit grumpy the first four days, not quite certain of his surroundings and all the new smells. He hisses and puffs up his quills when mad. He kind of sounds like boiling water in a tea kettle. But with the addition of this new little critter bed, he is super happy and much more calm.

He is hiding in most of this pictures because of the camera flash, tomorrow Alex and I are going to take him outside to explore in the grass before the heat of the day. Hopefully you will get to see his adorable little face. And we will hopefully get a chance to double check that Steve is not a Stephanie.

Do you blame us?

I could have been posting about work and life and new recipes and school all most ending and the fact that Casey is home for weeks and weeks and that my mother in law and brother in law are coming to visit which makes me want to finish the painting all that much more and clean and all the other things that come with our life.

But I would much rather spend our time floating in the pool staring at the mammatus clouds after a storm has passed.

And enjoy the thunderstorm sunset as it makes the sky glow.

Alex rocks!

Alex spent 10 weeks at Computer Club after school this year, working on a Claymation Movie called Goodnight Gorilla. Well, his project got third place in his category within the entire district! The awards ceremony was great, the school board did a great job making all the kids feel like winners.

Alex and his team!
A screen shot of the movie. Alex made Joe the Zookeeper. Complete with clay keys and a name tag!

Congratulations Alex, we are super proud of you!

Summer in the Wings

Alex and Bella doing their after school routine. Book reading, pup lounging in the fort.

Life is so quick right now, listing is a must:

• School is all most out.
• Family arrives the day after school is out!
• Painting has come to a standstill
• Because I hurt my back and am just now able to bend over.
• The pool has been heavenly.
• Sunburns are showing up in pale places.
• I watched my legs actually FRECKLE today. It was beautiful.
• Patios and BBQ's and floaties are in high demand.
• Especially since we have awesome friends to share them with.
• I am on a quest for the perfect big floppy hat to wear in the pool.
• I vow to perfect my fried Chicken recipe this summer.
• I start my teach from home contract on Monday. Money in my Pj's.
• I have Disney on the brain.
• Alex has the most adorable smatter of freckles on his face. God Bless Freckles.
• Casey is teaching Rocket Scientists next week. No lying, he is teaching NASA.
• My husband rocks.
• I forgot about Mother's Day even in the midst of heavy hinting from my mom.
• I could only hint Home Depot or a bougainvillea.
• I am craving Cheetos.

Guess who won?

Nothing makes a morning exciting here in Texas like Casey running back into the house asking for the camera.

It usually means one of two things.
a) He wants to take a picture of someone being an idiot
b) There is some animal he found and wants to take a photo of it.

Today it was B, which I knew because he kept chanting FrogSnake, Snake eating frog, CAMERA CAMERA CAMERA!

Behold the Texas Frog Snake!

Otherwise known as Luncher and Lunchbox.

Ultimately the winner was the Grackle, a Texas black bird, it swooped down and snatched this buffet up, because Casey broke up this duo with the axe since we can't have that bugger in our yard. Not with kids and dogs and ummm, me being a ninny. I could barely look as he took the fatal swing. If he had been shooting it, I would have wrestled him for the rights to pull the trigger. But the axe is a bit more Texas Chainsaw Massacre-ish. Where as I am a bit more Dirty Harry-ish.

But anyways, WELCOME to LUNCH in TEXAS. We love it here. Truly, we do.

Monday Daybook

FOR TODAY April 27, 2009

Outside My Window... it is overcast and cloudy, wishing we got some rain

I am thinking... paint, it is on my mind, so much to get ready this next month.

I am thankful for... my family and Casey's mad painting skillz

From the craft room... nada, too busy painting, gardening and pooling

From the kitchen... some good grilling yummies this week, I love meat counter sales.

I am wearing... PJ's still

I am creating... lists.

I am going... not much of anywhere this week

I am reading... my bible, my bad girls book, and the last twenty pages of a 4 book series

I am hoping... there is no flu here in SA.

I am hearing... silence, I love mornings.

One of my favorite things... our "new" kitchen

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:

Monday: laundry.

Tuesday: more painting

Wednesday: garden bed building.

Thursday: painting again

Friday: paint some more.

Saturday: Who knows!

Sunday: Airport

Picture to share:

We love this kid so much!

Finally, the Pool

Our pool was finally finished today! This has been a horribly long process that involved bad installers, bad stores, letters of complaint, the BBB, and then fitting it into our schedule. Two and a half years later, today, was THE day.

This is how the pool looked at 7am. WEEDS. It was 400% worse last year. Seriously our neighbors thought we had a garden in there. No joke.

This is how the pool looked after an hour of weed pulling and then the weed killer application.

The LINER, we have had it so long I forgot what pattern we picked out for the border design.

In, wrinkle free, and slowly filling with water. It has about 3 feet left to go, which should take about 5 hours. I have both hoses filling this baby.

Now we just need to shock it, drop in the needed chemicals, and we can swim in this sucker in a week! That is if the water is warm enough. But you can bet your last pair of knickers that we will all be in that water as soon as it is ready!

Happy Easter!

I just wanted to pop in and cheer HAPPY EASTER!

The table is set, ready for a morning of good food and family, sadly without my Dad this year as he is in Alaska on business.

Alex has his annual Egg Hunt in my parents neighborhood this morning. 1500 eggs between all these kiddos.

Alex stopped his hunt to help a friend who had spilled his eggs. What a great friend!


I promise to be back soon with details from my birthday, a new lens, upcoming events, and a personal challenge.

Paused

I am taking some time off from the blog. Just have life to live and have not found words yet to post here.

All is good and happy.

Pulse

If I sit really still I can feel my pulse beat a thud behind my belly button. I have been able to do this ever since I had Alex. Its like my heart dropped lower in my chest to be closer to my womb.

Daybook

FOR TODAY March 16, 2009...

Outside My Window... it is clear and sunny

I am thinking... about today's to-do's, like cleaning up my desk.

I am thankful for... Casey's mad Google skills

From the craft room... messes from my scrapping this weekend, need to clean it up and organize.

From the kitchen... Maybe beef stew today, but for sure I am making Lemon cakes.

I am wearing... Blue paisley pj pants, a sky blue tank, and an indigo hoodie.

I am creating... lists.

I am going... to enjoy every second of my day!

I am reading... My bible, Darktower 7, and cookbooks.

I am hoping... to feel better today.

I am hearing... morning sounds, Casey snoring and the heater kicking on.

One of my favorite things... coffee and creamer.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:
Monday: list tackling.
Tuesday: work
Wednesday: cleaning, gardening and garage sale prep.
Thursday: garage sale prep
Friday: work and a scout crossover meeting.
Saturday: Garage Sale
Sunday: Airport

Cheery

I did it, well actually I did TWO things.

1. I cheered myself up some.
2. I scrapped for the first time in a LONG time.

Made this fun Spring Garland from a kit.

It will look great with our Easter mantel when I can get that up.
I love this little birdie.
But these two as well!

And say Hello to my little Mushroom pots. Aren't they adorable?

Blah

I have not been myself lately. Between three colds, sinus infections, headaches, body aches, my best friend leaving for over a year, up and down weather, and Casey's in and out schedule I have been a shadow of me. I can not figure out if it is depression, lingering colds, or lack of a routine but I hate who I am right now.

I wake up grumpy.

I can shoot dirty looks for the smallest thing.

I whine, a lot.

I am pissed one minute, needing a hug the next.

I am Mean Nicole, who has zero inspiration, motivation and patience.

Except when it comes to cooking, I have been a bad ass cook lately. Finding comfort in foods we have never tried before. Rhythm in the process of dicing, stirring, heating, baking, cleaning dishes. If the urge for rice pudding strikes me, like it did last night, I make it, tweaking the recipe to be sweeter, like I would like to be.

Damn funk needs to go away. Or else my family will be eating mashed potatoes, pot roast, and bacon green beans every single night, and then we will all be super fat too.

Ppphhhfffttt!

Signs

Spring is on its way here to the Alamo City. Not only do we have a huge rain storm coming our way as I type, but the trees are uncurling their leaves. I wanted to take a picture of this head of leaves exploding from their buds. And look who crawled out of the underside to come say Hi! Later this afternoon, this cluster was a full fledged leaf bouquet, nothing curly about it.

A list of Good things

I am feeling grumpy today, so to counter act the grumpyness I am making a Good things list.

• Wheat Thins and Coke Zero
• The coming rain
• My onion, shallot, and garlic bed.
• Pups
• Kiddo snuggles
• Casey's home for two weeks.
• Knuckles with Baby JP
• Maria's Taco Express in Austin, seriously great.
• My new nail polish
• Recipes from Foodnetwork.com
• Our bed.
• Clean floors.
• Music, oh for the love of music.
• Attempting good things when grumpy.

Dog Bed

What's that?! Me? No, I am not napping. I am not snuggled up to Daddy's pillow for an afternoon nap. No way, you must be mistaken.
No really, I was just warming it for him. Because he is on his way home you know!

Where you going? I thought we were talking about a nap?

Hey Mom, I have a problem...

I use to have two beds to choose from...

And they were somewhere over here...

At least this is where they have always been...

But now they are gone. Where did they go?

Yeah, where did they go? Are you washing them??

Aaww, Mom you are washing them! You sure we can't just sleep on your big dog bed tonight?

No way doggies, Mommy has a date with Daddy in the big bed tonight.

Take Your Time, we tell him.

Today Alex has his first TAKS test on Reading. In third freaking grade. What are those stupid government people thinking, giving a third grader a test like that???? That is what high school and college are for!

Anyways, we keep telling him, like a mantra, Take Your Time. You don't have to finish First. Read the passage twice before answering questions. You have all day. (Literally they can keep testing till 5pm).

One major struggle for Alex will be the No talking rule. None, at all! They have even gone to so far as to disconnect the hand driers in the bathrooms, in case the kids sneak a chat under the blower noise. Remember this is third grade. Freaking third grade! Those cheaters!!

We were up early to have a breakfast of waffles, strawberries and "wobbly" bacon. That would be bacon cooked till soft, not crisp. And he ate double what he normally does. I think he was afraid of not eating till lunch. Regardless, he is stuffed. And we went to school early, just so he could have time on the playground since that was nixed from the daily schedule as well. Remember No Talking, they might pass each other the answers.

The remains of breakfast requests.

The only thing he was allowed to bring to school today was a hoodie and lunch. No back pack, no papers, no books. So I packed his lunch full of doubles. Double Hot Dogs, Double String Cheese, Double Apple Juice. And a Peep Cake. Because seriously, cupcakes can make any test easier. And they are cute. And Yummy. And now are calling my name. Peep Cakes.

Don't you love Easter Candy?

And before he jumped out of the car, I drew a circle on his hand to remind him that We love him. To Remind him that we know he will do great. And to Remind him to Take his Time.

A Liability?

I have no shame, that is evident in the posting of this picture.

But this picture also shows my current worry. My hair. I love it, seriously. It is probably two inches longer than it was here.

Here where I am taunting a whopping crane to do the Karate Kid with me. Which he was.

But after watching Big Love last night, where Kathy has a really bad experience with a braid stuck in the truck door, a telephone pole and a broken neck, I think all the signs are there, that it is time to cut my hair. Now I just have to do it.

That might take a couple more inches to convince me. But the whole time I will be worried about catching my hair in the car door.

The Start

There is something so personal about waking up early in the morning, when the sky is still dark, the horizon smudged with purple lights. If I catch myself right, I can wake up right in between sleep cycles around 4:30am. A horrible time if I let myself think about, because I love few things more than sleep. The whole process of sleep has been a life long love affair. But slowly, in weekly snatches from the last four years, the hours before dawn have been romancing me.

There is a thought that always enters my minds on those dark mornings, that there is still a significant number of people slumbering in their beds, dreading the alarm that is soon to go off. I find myself smiling over that thought, of all those bodies warm and snug in so many houses all around me.

There are a few, whose houses are all ready bright with lights, whose kitchen smells of coffee and cereals. A few kindred spirits. Us, who wake early to start the day. Us, who know that the early morning hour has the potential to pause the forward motion of time, just so we can get more done. Truly, there is a limbo to those few hours before the world whirls into motion.

There are even fewer who walk the dark morning, enjoying the cool breeze, the lack of traffic and sometimes the late to bed nocturnal animals. A few mornings, I have walked with streets covered in frogs. A few mornings, it has been so dense with fog that the day seems to have slipped between worlds, and we have some how ended up in a fairy tale. There have been mornings where the darkness let's words that are so raw and true slip from my lips to the ears of a dear confidant. In those hours, life is so detached so open to reality instead of the events and things that fill our days.

Tomorrow, I will start waking between cycles again. I will embrace the darkness of the new day. I will turn my face to the East and greet the purple smudges on the horizon with a smile and more likely a prayer. The start is always there.

T Minus 2 hours till departure

Two days ago I gave Archie a much needed bath. With the lack of rain the yard was dusty, grey, and very dry. Archie, who is in need of a grooming session, pretty much has dust mops for paws right now. And because he sleeps on the bed with us, and us noticed the dusty puppy smell, it was bath time.

So into the tub he went, out of the tub he came, the dryer was pointed in his direction, the towels were scrubbed all over his body and then came the flea treatment.

Apparently this time I either got water in his ear(s) or a flea crawled in one because he went nutty yesterday. The dog who sleeps about 14 hours a day was incredibly restless. I timed him, he couldn't sit still for more than 10 seconds. He paced, he tossed his head, he bit at the air, he rubbed his face on the carpet, he twitched, and he even growled a couple times. He was miserable. We were miserable.

I think he finally passed out around 1:30am only because I rubbed his ear for a good ten minutes until his breathing evened out. And then Casey came to bed. And Archie was up again and again with the twitches.

So none of us slept well last night except Alex and Betty. Both sleep through the crazy tornado weather we get here too.

Starting 15 minutes ago, I am settling in for bed. I am blogging, cleaning up the kitchen, tucking in Alex, taking a bath, watching the news, and then plan on being in bed reading by 8:45.

Because I am SO NOT A NICE PERSON when I am tired.

And because Archie is better today, mostly I think he is too exhausted to be another other than mellow.

Straight

All the way to my belly button.

A Recipe Collection

I have been reorganizing the pantry over the last couple of days. It got way out of control during Alex's birthday weekend, I have no idea how that happened. This time I focused on the appliances side of the pantry. I have been culling out what we don't need, like two extra crock pots, and what we haven't used.

One thing that took up a lot of prime real estate in our pantry is my cook book collection. Which I use, but only a fraction of the library itself. Slowly I have been moving my most used cook books out to the hutch in our dining nook. Yesterday I moved it all out there, removing the books that I never use.

Here is the space, three shelves of books. A handful used much more than others. I am going to pay attention to the books that I am not using, and weed them out, because really what use are they.

My top shelf: The Cooking with Jamie book is a new acquisition from Christmas. Gotta love the Brits! Which moves me onto the Nigella books, every single one is well used and loved.

My Second Shelf:Front and Center, the cooking bible, The Better Homes Big Red Book. Seriously, any new cook starting out needs this book. They update every couple of years to current food trends. My moms has Salisbury steak in it. :) The illustrated Cookbook is a great resource for HOW to cut, chop and work in my kitchen. It's ancient and there are plenty of newer versions out there. But really who wants to pay $75 for a reference book. The Nourishing traditions book on the far right is a FABULOUS resource for how to make anything and everything from scratch. She is hardcore against processed foods and believes in a protein and fat loving diet, but if the Apocalypse every happens, I will know how to make ranch dressing from scratch.

My third Shelf: Joie de Vivre is not only a great introduction to French cooking but a joy to read. Of course everyone should have the spiral of Crockpot meals. But my favorite thing on this shelf is the Cooks Illustrated magazine for American Classics. Best magazine I have ever bought, that issue alone is amazing!

And inside the cabinet on the left I have my pile of magazines and Everyday foods. Plus my recently rebuild recipe folder. Previously this pile was messy, rarely used and had print outs of various recipes all over the place. I sat down and filed all paper recipes into paper protectors and put them in the binder. Eventually I will go through the magazines and rip out and file the recipes I want.

While weeding out books I stumbled across this Vegetarian cookbook that I had forgotten all about. I snagged it from my mom probably 16 years ago. It is so 70's, but full of great veggie recipes.

The TOC is awesome, really you can make so much just veggie. And with a whole chapter devoted to Cheese, I knew I needed to keep this book around.

But this final paragraph in the introduction had me laughing my ass off. You know a cook book is from the 70's when there is open pot references and even food recommendations for munchies.

A frugal conversation

I spent some time with my moms neighbor on Friday. Jenny is a wife and mother to four kids, whose husband just had a 20K drop in pay due to cut backs in the automotive industry. Jenny needed to know how to eat cheap, good, and live a bit more frugal. Enter Mormon mom of 6 from the cul de sac and Me! I will be sharing Robbie's tips as soon as we can get together again, she is sick with another pregnancy, you will love her tips! Like how to make a roast chicken feed 7 for two meals. ONE CHICKEN!

Anyways, here are my tips!

1. Shop in Bulk. Costco is my bulk source of choice. We have been members since it was called Price Club. Even with just our family of three, we SAVE so much money shopping wisely there. Typically we pick up these door busters: Milk ( $2.55 a gallon), Eggs ( Always around $1.80 for 18), Block cheese( don't buy the preshredded crap, it is covered in a wax, and block is a much better value per pound), dog food ( 40Lbs for $20), toilet paper ( yeah you have to store it, but come on, who looks under your bed anyways?), all laundry products ( use only half the recommended amount, I swear you won't notice a difference and it will last you FOREVER!), ground beef cubs ( 5 lbs for $10, 90/10 fat), and garbage bags. We rarely buy produce, besides potatoes, breads and meats at Costco. I will pick it up if there is a coupon that month or a special occasion, but mostly we pass the meats up due to storage space. Costco is also a great source for sheets, comforters, certain clothing items, kitchen wares and appliances, and bath items like shampoo. Seriously worth it!
2. Meal plan. Now Jenny all ready meal plans, but she also has a tough situation with her husband, he wants a restaurant type meal at every meal. Meaning, full cut of meat, side, veggie, and salad. No casseroles or meatless items. I say, SUCK IT UP, he can totally get by on one night of grilled cheese and soup. So plan your menu, at least dinners, for the week and try to stick to it. If you can make a cut of meat stretch to two meals, AWESOME! For example, Roast a chicken one night, and then save the carcass to make chicken noodle soup with the next. Simple and Easy.
3. Shop from the sales. Now where we live we can not unfortunately take advantage of price wars between groceries. We pretty much have one grocery, Target and Walmart. So we always look through the circulars to see if there is items we can add to our menu for the week. Also, we ALWAYS look through the meat case for mark downs not published, and our store has meal deals. Don't buy what you won't use!!
4. Budget. Keep a grocery budget for the month. Jenny is trying to stick to a $450 a month budget for a family of 6. She can totally do it now, because her kids are little, but might need to adjust it as they go through growth spurts or if they are out of school. For instance, Alex is eating SO MUCH right now due to a growth spurt. Well I am not going to say No to him, so I have planned on buying more milk and lunch meats. Because an extra bowl of cereal or a ham sandwich does him good and won't destroy our budget.
5. Get your family on board! Which means, remind them all the time, that there is a budget and things will have to change. Jenny for example has never bought canned OJ concentrate. She always bought a jugged name brand. Well with a savings of $4, BUY the concentrate! Buy bagged cereal versus boxed, it tastes the same anyways. Start serving sandwiches at lunch, not full meals.

More to come later after I have talked to Robbie. She is the QUEEN of FRUGAL Meals. I can't wait to share her tips with you!

Listed Again, Mmmm Blah!

• I am listing again because paragraphs feels like too much right now.
• My mom has been really sick, out flat on her back for over a week with at least another week to go. It was bad, is still sort of bad, I am worried about it all.
• Casey is in Canada, so far away.
• I have been feeling domestic.
• I kicked our unorganized pantry's ass today, but I don't know if I like the new flow.
• Alex has been talking in this weird "duck" voice that his friend Joshua does, driving me crazy.
• Our garden is planted, yay Spring produce.
• Half our garden won't be producing till late Summer. Go onions, shallots, and garlic.
• I miss Sharon. Really bad. Starbucks is not the same.
• This morning the flannel sheets felt perfectly perfect.
• Fast Food is the devil.
• I don't like the way orange peel feels under my nails.
• Jon and Kate plus Eight's Kate is really bitchy in her interviews now. hate that.
• My neighbor has three rabbits.
• I think I listed just to blog.
• PPPffftttt!

Where our visitors go to hide.

Mom, Mom!!! Someone came to play with us?!?!?!
But they won't come down from the tree! Does she look like fun?!

I have to much to tell you, why don't you come down for a spell?

Really, we just want to play and talk!

See we even have a nice little place to play!

Needless to say, our Squirrel guest didn't come play, and I had to give her some time to escape the girls. Oh, but the excitement level was HUGE!