Not So Halloween Breakfast

The kids wanted toast. And pancakes. I wanted something different without 10,000 carbs. So what did we come up with? Smoothies. Having frozen strawberries and blueberries in the fridge, we pulled the blender out of the cabinet. I put in

2 bananas,
1 cup frozen strawberries,
1 cup frozen blueberries,
1 cup soymilk

"Wow!" the kids exclaimed as I pushed the magical yet loud button. I only had to push the berries down once and that was because I hadn't added the milk yet.

However, just throw everything in and push that magical "on" button.

Easy as pie! Or a smoothie.
Thanks for reading

These were the quickest thing they have ever finished for breakfast. Very tasty and healthy at the same time. Now to see if they will drink a "green" smoothie. Never know until you try...

DIY Woman

Don't you mean handyman? Nope. I can do anything if I am motivated enough.

After 3 years of not having the grout finished in our kitchen under the trash can, I decided it needed done. Hubby asked me to clean the grout lines so he could "finish" it several times and I obligingly did so. Only to find out he was "too tired" or had bigger projects to complete. We had to replace these two tiles due to shorter cabinets in our kitchen remodel.

Sitting on the fridge was the small tub of pre-made grout. Awesome. The rest of the tools were in the garage. A grout float/trowel,  large grout sponge (dish sponges will not work), and bucket with water (to rinse out sponge several times).

To be honest, filling in grout was quite easy.

Tools needed

 Take the spade looking tool and scoop the grout out of your bucket like ice cream.

 Fill in grout lines. Make sure you fill them in well and overfilling is good to do. Just watch out for air bubbles.

This is what you'll end up with after you get your grout in your grout lines. Seriously easy.

 I couldn't touch my camera after this step. Sorry! Take the grout trowel and swipe it sideways at a 45 degree angle. This helps push the grout down and get the air bubbles out. Don't worry about getting the middle of the tiles dirty. This will be cleaned off with your sponge in a few hours.

Wait a few hours (many people say 12-24 hours). I let mine sit for 3-4 hours. I'm very impatient- I wanted it done! You might as well move onto another project for the time being. Me? Laundry is always a huge project in my house.

Since I know you waited your proper length of time, all you have to do is take your sponge and wipe in circles on top of the grout. You will need to rinse your sponge and possibly refill your bucket several times. I had to since my bucket was so small.

After sponging your tiles and grout to the perfected level, stand back and admire your hard work. I know I did!

My phone doesn't take the best pics. This picture was taken one week after I filled in the grout.

Aren't my grout skills magnificent? See- I really can do anything if I put my mind to it. What's next?

I realize the kids could have helped with this project, but I needed to learn how to do it first.  They will definitely help next time!

Week at Home Alone

Once in a blue moon, hubby leaves town on one of his amazing work adventures. This leaves the kids with me 24/7 for the time being. This can be a good or bad thing.

My daughter, 4, being independent hates staying home. I'm the same way, but I'd rather not take the kids to ten stores in one day. Heck, I don't like taking them to one store in a day. Between sitting in the cart or hanging on, they always manage to make trips to store as annoying as possible. Some days they are good, but they have so much pent up energy, that they're boasting to run free.

Our latest venture included my son, 3, has learned to go for what he wants. So as I made an emergency trip to the grocery store, I put our four things on the belt to checkout. Then one, two, three packages of Twinkies fly onto the belt. "Where did those come from?" The guy next in line is laughing that when I see the fourth package of Twinkies fly up, I see my little man's hand. Of course. Trying to teach them candy is really bad for their teeth and tummy is like telling a dog not to eat his bone.

The kids and hubby always want to go out to eat. Hubby claims its saves us from washing dishes and using our household food supply. Ha! Just because they want to go out to eat, does not mean we will. Yesterday I did a bunch of yardwork and scraped together meals for the kids and I all day. We were out working in our yard and before the night was over, we went to say hello. To make a story short, they invited us to stay for dinner (even though I was covered in dirt)! How's that for eating out?

The kids have actually helped me out more this week than ever before. My daughter wants to vacuum and my son wants to mop. They do a pretty decent job out of it. Yesterday, I had to dig up some dirt and move it to one of the front yard flower beds. They opened the two backyard gates for me and made sure the dog stayed in the backyard. It was amazing! Then I gave them a ride in the wheelbarrow!

My daughter had been fighting me at the start of the week and trying to teach her life lessons has really paid off. "Mommy, you don't want us to have any fun!" was Monday's statement. With it being Friday now, she told me, "Mommy, this is fun!"  I'm not one for making chores fun and I want them accomplished correctly. The kids do have their chore list and its mostly filled with stickers this week. I realized I've been pushing them away so I can get my job done faster, but in the long run, that doesn't work. If the sky's the limit, then don't give them boundaries. Include them in everyday chores and you'll be amazed at what they learn. A child needs structure and discipline, but if you're not including them, then they won't learn how to do anything.

Overall, this week was a proven success in getting housework, yardwork, and childwork done. The kids learned many life lessons. I didn't have to cook a huge meal every night and there were no complaints about any meal. The dishes and laundry were washed daily. The house was picked up every night. All without yelling. All without spanking. I'm not saying hubby is a negative influence, but it's hard to maintain a relationship when people and circumstances change.

It has been a good week.
Thanks for reading!

Fridge to Freezer...a well worn path

We spent a lot at the farmer's market last week. Then we went to Costco and a grocery store (well, hubby did). Major drain on the grocery budget. However, the pantry, fridge, and freezer are stocked, ready to go. Glad I didn't go with hubby to Sacramento or Bishop this past month! Don't get me wrong, I love Bishop and sometimes Sac, but I am really trying to save money overall. That didn't happen whatsoever when hubby and the kids grocery shop with me.

Luckily with it being fall, apples are in season. My kids love anything with natural sugars aka fruit, so when I saw apples with no food wax at the farmer's market, we bought some! They only had two varieties to choose from: pink lady and gala. I'll take pink lady apples any day.

So how did I get my fridge, pantry, and freezer full? Ok, I lied. The freezer isn't quite full, but the fridge is. I hate having food packed in the fridge. I love being able to see the light and how dirty my shelves are. We don't really need to buy all the extra food especially with hubby gone. So I froze the squash, zucchini, bell peppers, and potatoes for when he returns. Potatoes O'Brien sounds really good...

Today's project was to get the store-bought tomatoes into the fridge. Hubby bought some vine ripened tomatoes that weren't quite ready, so they sat in a paper bag. I'm glad I checked that paper bag today since I completely forgot about them! There was absolutely no room in the fridge and the only thing to do was to remove the extra veggies and freeze them.

They say you should eat colors of the rainbow!

It wasn't hard It took me maybe an hour to get all the chopping and bagging. Bell peppers are the easiest thing to freeze. You wash, chop, bag, and freeze. This time I tried something different. I put the seeds inside snack sized baggies and froze them for next year's garden. I probably saved between $3-$6 right there.


The squash (and zucchini), I froze without blanching. Looking at the reader's comments at http://pickyourown.org/, squash can be frozen without cooking it at all. Easy peasy! Another slice, bag, and freeze method. Another quick and easy way to save my precious food. The only catch is you have to eat it before 4-6 months in the freezer.

Glad I don't have to toss these

 The potatoes, I figured since hubby isn't home, I might as well freeze them. You can't freeze raw potatoes, so I half cooked them/simmered them and let them cool. Then I drained them, bagged them, and froze them. It's a little different than the website: http://www.best-potato-recipes.com/freezing-potatoes.html, but we'll see how they turn out since they are cooked before frozen.

Food for the chickens

There you have it. Another opportunity to not waste food, but to save it for later. Maybe I should buy some stock in Ziploc...

Thanks for reading!

Finding my Niche

I'll be honest. I want to see the world. I don't want to go back to work, although I do want the income. I want to homeschool the kids, yet I have absolutely no patience with them. I apparently want a lot of things. That's normal though.

So in order to find my niche in life, I have to look at my hobbies.

Cake decorating
Baking sweets (when its not 200 degrees in the house)
Metal Detecting
Photography (although I do need more practice)
Writing (always wanted to be an author)
Teaching (math, spelling, and English)
Gardening

These are pretty broad hobbies. Where does one start? Well, I took classes on cake decorating. It was fun and I made great friends.

I don't own a metal detector. I have the gold panning "pans", but I haven't gone all year. I need to just go (although its snowing in the mountains now). I really want to rent an actual metal detector and go to the Mojave or Death Valley.

I've been learning different aspects of photography, but the only people I can seem to photograph are my own kids. Sometimes those don't even come out good.

As for writing, I have an outline for a few different stories, plus a blog. It's one of the few hobbies that I truly enjoy and can do from anywhere. Just not anytime. I like a silent room/house so I can concentrate.

I've always loved math and other few subjects. I looked into becoming a substitute teacher and it cost me more to put my kids in daycare than the actual salary. Plus, there are so many teachers out there plus budget cuts. Very scary time for education. Another thing about the school system-I watched a documentary on Netflix and it basically said public schools are similar to prison. The education system needs fixed badly. I'm so scared to put my kids in public school, yet we can't afford private school.

So this leaves me with gardening. The ultimate goal is homesteading. We don't have a large budget for groceries and I'm so sick of hubby's convenience addiction. I've been a DIY most of my life and he's still engrained with his parent's materialistic world. He's always comparing our lives to his parents. Ugh. We sat down and came up with the goal to be "green" and homestead. He doesn't want to be totally off the grid, but I do. I hate bills. Call me greedy.

Right now, I am trying to plan the garden. Who knew it was so much work? The biggest question is peppers and tomatoes. Can they be combined? I've seen it both ways that they are and are not companion plants. Does this only apply to certain varieties? There's a huge nitrogen war in the soil if you don't plan your garden correctly. Who knew?

I know you enjoy pics, so that's on my to-do list. I keep wanting to write, but am finding it harder and harder to get on the computer. I need to set time down to actually get these on the computer. Finding my niche isn't easy and if you want to find yours, seriously look at your hobbies. Everyone has hobbies, even if it is watching tv or playing video games. Then figure out what you like about them.

Best of luck and thanks for reading!

Prop 37

This is just my opinion. If you don't know what's going on with Prop 37, you should definitely check it out. Yes, it will cost us in food prices, but hasn't gas already gone up? Groceries? Utilities?

California propositions this year on the 2012 ballot have millions scratching their heads. Billions have already been spent in advertising the yes and nos to several propositions and people. They are counting on all those who do not research the propositions. Looking at the sample ballot via the mail, each ballot informs voters how much it will cost the state. This bit of information gives ignorant voters the cause for voting yes or no on each particular measure.

Hubby is voting no on all the props so we don't have higher taxes. Good luck with that one honey! There are two similar and confusing props (30 and 38) threatening educational and public safety funding.  It's very confusing even if you read the fine print. Prop 30 taxes the wealthy and funds schools, but only for a specified amount of time. Any tax money after the specified time goes into...??? Loophole right there. 38 is for funding early childhood education, yet it's for elementary schools and low-income families. What about my children? They wouldn't receive any incentives from this. 38 also supposedly goes to paying back federal debt. Now it says it will promote preschools, but the only preschools around here at church-ran organizations. Hmmm....

There's a prop about rezoning district lines (40). If you look at the bottom of San Joaquin Valley, the district lines look like a giant spiral around Bakersfield. Seriously? County lines apparently mean nothing.

Another proposition is about the auto insurance companies (33). This will promote supposedly lower rates on a driver's history. Why are we voting on this? Either way, the illegal non-insured Mexicans will continue to drive on our roads. 

The Death Penalty. California wants to repeal the death penalty (34). It saves the state money if we take it away. Okay, so instead we continue to overfill our prisons and pay for them to live a life of luxury as us taxpayers foot the bill. Wow.

Human Trafficking (35). Harsher penalties. This will cost the state a few million to maintain, but hey, it's public safety. This also includes sex offender's must tell officials their internet activities and identities. They aren't doing that already? Do we have to vote to leave crumbs on the floor too?

Prop 36 is the 3 strikes law for repeat offenders. Another public safety issue. Haven't heard much on this either. Primarily harsher laws for harsh crimes.

Prop 39 is a big pet peeve of mine. Want to do business in California yet headquartered in another state? Let's mix energy efficiency in with this one. Out-of-state businesses would have to pay state taxes based on sales and that money will towards making California "green". Last I checked, they still had to pay a set fee for taxes, but only one more form than an in-state business. This sounds too good to be true. Half the revenue would be spent on "energy efficient projects. Of the remaining [meaning the other half] revenues,  a significant portion likely would be spent on schools." So where would the rest of it go? Sounds like another loophole to me.

Then there's my favorite: Prop 37, where all genetically modified foods have to be labeled. I'm completely for this since I want to know if there are pesticides or even biotechnology is used. Our bodies are not science experiments and our food shouldn't be either. Europe does not allow biotechnology, yet we've been eating it since the 1970s. Our country also has a higher number of health problems, obesity, a prescription drug empire, and just plain convenience for every demand in our lives. Yet we just sit back and let our government say GMO foods are the way we eat. I don't think so. I've made the change to non-GMO and I've lost weight, gained confidence, and know that my family is eating healthy on a budget. 

There have been billions of dollars spent by the big food companies to get people to vote NO on prop 37. They want to hide the fact that country eats only GMO foods. Monsanto, Pepsi, ConAgra, and countless others are spending billions just on California to stop this campaign. 

To me, Proposition 37 is the most important one during this election. I really wish this topic was discussed at the debate, although neither president really cares about such "nonsense". 

Yes on 37!

October 2012

I can't believe October has pretty much flown by. Luckily, we already have costumes from last year that the kids want to wear. My daughter wants to be no one else but Cinderella. My son, really into trains, is going to be Thomas the Tank Engine again. Yay! The neighbors have decorated their yards yet again and it's quite funny to see two houses trying to out-do each other for Halloween. Halloween has more decorations in our neighborhood than Christmas. Not that its that cold for Christmas here. One more reason to love Bakersfield in the winter.

October has been a good month. Monopoly is at McDonald's, so lunch lines are shorter elsewhere. The Christmas junk is proudly displayed in stores, and we are able to get outside to walk while the sun is still up. The temperatures have been jumping from 70s-90s. Today is suppose to be 99 degrees. My winter plants really don't like this heat! Our winter garden is primarily planted: purple broccoli, spinach, and iceberg lettuce. I need to get to Home Depot to get the rest of my lettuces.

I'm hoping I can keep the tomato plants growing and producing for a bit longer. Bako's frost is November, so as fast as that is coming, the plants don't have much longer.

I'm also researching hydrogen fuel cells that we can make at home. One step to getting a "greener" car. Our macho SUV and the $4.69 gas prices apparently do not mix well for our budget. I've been filling up when the gas hits half a tank just because that's a big enough shock! I'm so sick of paying bills when we could actually NOT be paying bills. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way.

This weekend (or next), we are going to try to build a small scale fuel cell to see how it works. I found a great website that uses most items from around the house: http://sci-toys.com/scitoys/scitoys/echem/fuel_cell/fuel_cell.html  There's only one item that I have to order, but since hubby is in Sac, he's going to look at Fry's before I order. I'll definitely post those results!

October 2012 is also the Presidential debates. Did anyone else watch? It was definitely a debate unlike the first one. I'm not going to get too much into politics since everyone is entitled to their opinions. Since you're reading this and it is my opinion, our country is doomed either way. They both are running to protect and fund their own wallets.

Overall, October has had confusing weather, a new garden, and extremely high gas prices. Our neighbors are going all out for Halloween, the kids have inexpensive costumes, and we're taking that first step to become "green". It's a very exciting month at the Bako Depot!

Thanks for reading!