HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

May you and yours have a safe and happy New Year!!!  Blessings to you all!  I look forward to all the wonderful new adventures that lay ahead in this fresh, new year! 

Our Gingerbread Parthenon!

Yes, we are homeschoolers and what better way to celebrate some of the fun things about Christmas than to combine history with the holidays!!!  Here was our gingerbread Parthenon.  I had sworn off gingerbread for many years, but I finally found a great recipe.  Now I need to perfect royal icing.  I used powdered meringue, but the icing seized up on me so it was hard to work with.  Nonetheless, it gave our Parthenon a more authentic look (hey, you gotta look at the silver lining!).  Has anyone built anything unusual out of gingerbread?  How about some hints about icing???  I really need to take some time working on that!!!

My goal was to pipe on the column design with the icing, but grand plans usually don't work out.  Oh well, we shall try something different next year!

Christmas Debriefing

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas!  We had a great Christmas ourselves and I am now in a ponderous mood as I am developing some new strategies for the new year!  I'm settling in as the snow falls outside, and thinking about next Christmas...I know, I know...I really don't want to, but for the sake of the budget, I have to!!!  One of the things I'm going to hit hard this next year is the thrift stores (I'm a big thrift store shopper anyways, but I'm going to be more mindful of Christmas gifts).  I instituted some of that this year and my children were just thrilled and overjoyed.  Here were some of my bargains:

For my son:  I don't care what age you are because we all love Lego's and their counterparts.  I found my son three different ships made by MegaBloks.  One is the Black Pearl, one is the Flying Dutchman (both are from the Pirates of the Caribbean), and a neat viking ship-not pictured.  These ships cost around $39.99 brand new.  I paid $2.99 and $3.99 for these ships.  They have given my son hours of entertainment already.  I also found small bags of blocks at the thrift store that he added to his collection.  On top of that, for $2.99, we bought him hundreds of toy soldiers.  They aren't your average toy soldiers--they have different eras--WWII, Vietnam, etc.  He and my husband have a game they made up using these little guys and my son learns all kinds of tactical strategies!!! 

Another great thrift store bargain which my whole library is made up of is BOOKS!!!  We always hit the jackpot.  I found one of my daughter's practically brand new 39 Clues books, and for my youngest, I found five Tinker Bell books--she totally loves Tinker Bell.  The 39 Clues books are hardback and in the store retail for $12.99--I bought them for $2.99 each--and they had the trading cards in them, too!  The Tinker Bell books retail for $4.97-$5.99.  I got them practically brand new for $1.49!!!  Awesome!!!

What to do about teenagers?  My oldest daughter is almost 16 and has quite the fashion sense.  Most of her clothes comes from Kohl's or friends.  So guess what I found?  The thrift stores are chock full of name brand clothing in excellent condition.  I got her these two shirts--one is Mudd, which comes from Kohl's and the other is from H & M--hello, both name brand and under $5.00!!!

I'm not saying I'm going to get everything from the thrift store--but it certainly helps the budget!!!  Even picky children can get amazing things--you just have to take time to look!!!  So I am going to take this whole next year to find some real treasures to supplement some more.  I was really pleased with these things I found and my kids were in shock that they came from the thrift store because they were in amazing shape!!!  Give yourself some time and I will guarantee your budget will be thrilled!!!  Anyone out there find any great bargains??? 



Strawberry Jam and Bargain Kitchen Essentials

I had the wonderful opportunity to go to a private greenhouse and glean from their strawberry beds.  I came home with 25 lbs. of ripe strawberries!!!  My goodness!  I definitely had my work cut out for me because I had to attend to them right away.  I turned it all into jam because my family could not live without the sweet stuff and after many, many hours of work, I've got enough to last well into next year.  I may even have the chance to go pick more!!!  I ended up with 24 full pints and 6 half-pints!!! I am really happy with my jam stash now!! 

I've been doing a lot of thrift store hunting lately and have found some real gems!  It seems that I've been in a real stainless steel kind of a mood lately.  Our local thrift store has offered $10 off for a $10 purchase coupon per email so our family has cashed these in and I have found some "steals."  First on the list is what I call my baby stockpot.  In the picture on the right is my huge stainless steel stockpot I bought over 10 years ago at Dillard's (I think) for half-price which was $18.  It still looks practically brand new even though it's a work horse around here.  I can cook 20 pounds of potatoes, it holds 25 pounds of strawberries (that's right, I took it strawberry picking), plus I can make stock in it from a huge turkey carcass!  The one on the left is the one from the thrift store.  The first thing that came to mind when I saw it was JAM!  It's the perfect size to make a batch of jam!  It has high sides so the jam can sputter away without making me a mess!  Can you say $1.99???!!!  Oh yes, I've already used it to process all those strawberries into jam (in separate batches, of course).

My next bargain was this ginormous stainless steel mixing bowl.  I had one years ago that I had sent with my husband to a church function I couldn't attend and he obviously never made it back home with it.  I just never had the heart to spend $16-$20 on one and finally found one for $3.99!  I absolutely love it! 



My next acquisition were these Wearever AirBake cookie sheets.  I figured I was taking a gamble on these because I couldn't figure why anyone would want to get rid of them unless they weren't any good.  After a minimum amount of cleaning, we baked some cookies on them and they are great!  Can you imagine how many cookies I can bake now at once!!!?  The big one is 15" x 20" and the smaller one is roughly 14" x 16 1/2".  They were only $2.99 each.  Remember, I had my coupons so I basically got all these things for FREE!!!  These cookie sheets are totally expensive brand new...I think the big one goes for $20. 

And finally, who couldn't use a few more gravy boats.  These awesome stainless steel gravy boats were priced at $1.59 and $0.99.  I think I am so ready for the holidays now!!!

I hope all of you are finding wonderful bargains and I would love to hear all your stories of what you're preserving on your homesteads.  I have much more to come in the next few days as we are on fall break...

Blessings to you on your homesteads!

Quick and thrifty fall treat...Caramel Apples

I'm getting ready to do a huge batch of canning because I have at least 40 pounds of apples.  That number is dwindling because they're just sooooo good to eat.  So, with all the work ahead of us, we thought we would make a delicious treat of caramel apples.

We took the easy way out and bought two bags of caramels that are individually wrapped.  The bag comes with 5 sticks each for your apples.  Each bag takes one tablespoon of milk and you zap it in the microwave for 2 1/2 minutes.  We coated our apples with the caramel then put chopped peanuts on the still warm and sticky caramel.  We let it set in the fridge for 5-10 minutes and then melted chocolate chips in the microwave and adorned our apples with slashes of chocolate.  We used Gala apples which are delicious as is, but when you add all this gooey goodness, MERCY!!!!!  For the price of one apple in a specialty chocolate shop, we got ten!!!  That is what I call bang for your buck.  When I was pregnant with my last child, caramel apples were all I craved.  I  haven't made these in a long time, which I'm not sure why, but they really are a great treat for the fall.  The kids are in apple-caramel-chocolate heaven!

 
Time to get my preserving done...till next time...Enjoy your fall treats!!!

Nature Study -- A Dying Pond

Another book I love to use is Anna Botsford Comstock's Handbook of Nature Study.  Over four years ago we started doing nature studies and right here in our neighborhood we have a pond.  It has been a great source of pleasure and learning for all of us.  Our very first lesson was about cattails.  We learned all about them and interestingly, cattails will inevitably be the downfall of a pond.  They will suck a pond dry and in our climate with not much rain, this pond is slowly losing its water.  It's quite sad.  We have had some great discoveries here and have seen so many birds.  Here's how the pond looks as it is slowly dying.  This picture is taken from the other side of the pond where you can now walk on what was once the bottom of the pond.

We have nesting red-winged blackbirds, the sparrows come out every spring, and there's ducks galore; it's also been a layover spot for migrating great blue herons and ibises.  We have loved this natural little spot and it's really hard to watch it dry up. What's been awesome though is that we knew this would happen because we studied it!!!  If you're looking to beef up your nature studies, I highly recommend this book.  Enjoy nature and be blessed by your surroundings!  Your children will love it!  They will learn the cycles of life and death and become acquainted with all sorts of critters.  It truly is a beautiful learning experience and is what a memorable childhood is all about!  Blessings with your study of nature!

Thrifty Weight Loss

You always hear about people with hefty gym memberships at the beginning of the year and usually by the end of summer, they are no longer going to the gym and that expensive membership has gone to waste.  Or your neighbor or friend gets that sweet piece of equipment at their house and again, it goes to waste and is used to hang laundry.  If you have beat that cycle, God bless you!!!  Because of our one income, we can't afford a gym membership and we have discussed an expensive piece of gym equipment, but we don't want it to fall into the overpriced laundry holder category. 

I'm one of those people who really has to watch her weight.  I've birthed four children and 40 is just on the horizon for me.  Fortunately, all my life, I've been fairly active so I can say that I know my body pretty well.  I know exactly what I have to do and what I need to eat and what kind of exercises I need to do.  From January to June, I lost 25 pounds for our big trip to Florida.  I took a two month break and now I've started up my regimen again so I can get rid of a final 15 more pounds.  So how can you lose weight in a thrifty manner?  Here are some of the strategies I used to get the weight off without breaking the bank that I hope will help you as well.

1. First and foremost, the fat you have to get rid of first is in your head!  Stinkin' thinkin' has to go away.  You need to gear up mentally for what you are about to do and commit to it with all your mind.  You have to break old habits and establish new ones.  It takes me a couple of weeks to do this before I actually start working out.  I start drinking more water and start scheduling my days so I can fit a workout in.  Do you need motivation?  Go to the store and try on a nice dress.  Don't like what you see?  Now you have fuel for your fire.  It doesn't matter how much money you spend or what equipment you have or how great a trainer is...if you can't get past your mental blocks, you won't lose weight.  Do what you need to do to get mentally ready...establish new habits, journal what you're doing and what you're feeling, etc...
2. If it's been ages since you've exercised, go to the doctor. 
3. Start walking.  If you work all day, take a walk at lunch and eat a light lunch afterwards.  Get your body used to moving.  Hello, walking is free!
4. If you're past that and need more, here's what I did.  Exercise dvds.  I know some of you are balking already.  I'm pretty particular when it comes to exercise dvds.  First of all, I have to like the personality of the trainer.  If I don't like the person, I can't get a good workout.  Also, I have to like the people who are doing the exercises along with the trainer.  Gorgeous supermodel types with a size 0 body and plastic smile doesn't really cut it for me.  My kids and I watch Biggest Loser every season and Jillian is by far my favorite and she has exercise dvds along with Biggest Loser dvds.  These dvds only cost $10 and you get a lot of bang for your buck.  There are usually three different levels and the more fit you get, the higher the level you can do.  Plus, you have real people exercising who really do need to lose weight and are doing something about it.  The only other equipment you need for these dvds are light handweights and an exercise mat if you don't have carpeting.
5. Of course, you'll say, "but I get bored."  So do I!!!  So I have at least five dvds and can do different ones during the week.  Once you do these for a few months, you can move on to the next level. 
6. Start a walking/jogging/running regimen.  Again, you're outside and it's free!!!  Do two miles or try to work up to it.  Walk a block, jog a block, walk a block.  The more you do this the easier it will become.  That first step is always the hardest.  That's why you have to get your brain on board to push your body.  YOU CAN DO IT!!!  The only real expense you'll have is good running shoes.  You could also get a good cross-trainer pair and use it for everything.  Do not skimp on your shoes.
7. Make some goals that are reasonable.  Weigh yourself at the beginning and then I would really wait to weigh yourself again after two weeks.  Don't let that be your obsession.  Your hard work will pay off and it will take time.
8. Now the question of nutrition:  how do you keep this thrifty???  I did not buy supplements or fancy smancy shakes or any of that stuff.  Buying fast food, pre-packaged food, fried foods, packaged snacks...all that costs more money than buying food in it's natural state and cooking from scratch...save yourself the money.  Don't buy all that junk.  I made sure I ate good, healthy food.  I drastically lowered my fat intake, totally increased my fiber, watched my carbs, and most importantly, I had a few snacks throughout the day.  Eat a hand full of nuts or an apple or some carrots.  Some of these diets just go crazy on a precise measurement of this, that, and the other.  Use common sense.  Your body will also tell you when you get hungry.  Does that mean you need to eat five pounds of food? No. Eat a few nuts or a yogurt and really observe how your body reacts.  That hungry sensation will leave.  It really won't take much to satisfy you.
9. Reward yourself.  Set up some rewards.  Maybe after your first ten pounds you can get a new dvd or heavier weights or a cute outfit to workout in.  You won't have the guilt of spending the money, plus you have a visual marker of the milestone you reached!
10. Set up a cheat meal or cheat day.  I had a cheat meal set up, especially when I first started working out, because when you start eating more stricter, that little part of you is going to feel deprived. So on my cheat meal I could eat WHATEVER I wanted.  That gives you something to look forward to mentally if you're struggling during the week.  Once you really get working out, and have done it for a few weeks or months, you will really see your progress and the cheat meal will almost become obsolete.  
11. What if you fall off the wagon and go crazy after a weekend of splurging???  Get over your bad self and continue where you left off.  No one is perfect and we all struggle!!! The point is to keep pressing on.  Don't feel guilty and get all dejected over it.  Just keep going...we all have times when we have celebrations and eat like pigs...hello, holidays are coming.  Just keep pressing on!

I hope this helps anyone who is starting out.  It's still a bit general, but know that you can do it.  I have to tell this to myself all the time.  It's about my health and being a fit woman, wife, and mother.  Taking control of this area of your life will spill out to every other area.  If anything, you'll feel so good and can wear thinner clothes and keep up with your kids.  Lately I've been so exhausted and I know my body really needs the exercise!!!  Good luck to you!  Remember, you don't have to spend a fortune to lose weight!!!!!
Happy exercising!!!