Life is Not Bubble Wrapped

SCROLL DOWN FOR FUN MONDAY! AFTER YOU READ THIS!

South side of creek and drive to the north, BEFORE.

Same tree in upper left corner by new culvert, waterway shifted from at drive to south of drive.

Same tree, just to the right of the culvert, gravel drive, with no water touching it.

Drive down the hill from the main road.

Drive looking back up to the main road, before gravel.

Looking back UP the hill at the main road

House staked out.

And now what you’re really here for:

Enjoying the new gravel.

Church Lady is our hostess for Fun Monday this week. She asks: How do you beat the doldrums when you are stuck in the house either because it is too cold or too hot outside? Do you read? Cook? Complete a home improvement project? Watch movies? Scrapbook? Please share your ideas.

It’s never too hot outside. Going outside when it’s really hot just makes your skin sweat out all the impurities. I highly recommend (as well as sunscreen and water!). Up until our baby was born, we were going out in any kind of weather, so as not to be stuck inside. Before I knew for sure I was pregnant (but had a good idea), I was chipping through about 5 inches of ice on our driveway in Iowa. For several hours at a time. When it crested freezing, we celebrated by heading to the store with no coats on. I always say that’s why our girl is so tough! Since then, though, we’ve had some days/weeks/winters where unless it’s necessary, we haven’t gotten her out. Mostly, I play on the internet. If I can sneak in a few chapters of a book while she’s napping, awesome! I do like to cook, but I hate the mess, so the big meals and such are few and far between. Mostly we fix low fuss/clean up stuff.

Basically, I haven’t been able to do much of anything lately (it’s cold here, and it supposed to snow 4-7 inches in the next 2 days). Basically life will be as normal. We will get out to the store and walk around, make that our ‘outing’. We will continue to work on the house planning, even if it seems like we’re stuck, this afternoon we went and grabbed a sample of the counter top and some paint chips to compare them for the kitchen. I’m sure we’ll be calculating drywall and insulation the next couple of nights, too, to see how far our tax return is going to get us. When it warms up enough that my husband thinks that the baby can be out, we’re going out to our property and walking, again. We spent about an hour walking Saturday, checking out the progress, and even drove down our new driveway for the first time! I guess since it’s not something the baby can tear down, mess up, dump or get into, getting out of the house, even if it seems too hot or cold is what we do. We’re anxiously awaiting the construction to be finished so we are no longer stuck in town, with everyone else who is stuck, off of school, and in general making a racket. It will be peaceful and quiet and we can shut the door on any projects we have, put on some snow clothes, and play outside until we’re worn out, then come in for a long winter’s nap. Can you see me making a snow angel? Okay, so it will be spring probably before we get it, but a girl can dream, right?

To go with the theme of my new blog layout, this is kind of a ‘down home country smarts’ mixed with modern mom know how/quick fixes. If you have any questions, leave me a comment and your email address and I would be delighted to get back to you! Thanks Jen for setting this up! Go over to her blog and find other recipes!

Here’s a couple of ‘cheaters’ that get done in 5-30 minutes… when in doubt, open a bag of or can of mixed vegetables and cook for about 5 minutes on the stove top to add fiber, color, and nutrients to the meal.

My best tip is honestly to put some work in on the weekends and eat leftovers in various form throughout the week as needed. Big roasts or pots of soup go a long way. You at the crock pot and your husband with a grill spatula and 20 extra minutes can make your week SO much easier!

Crock pot suppers, google it!

Grill burgers, chicken, pork, etc on the weekend and then add to dishes as you go. Meat-freers can use portabello mushrooms.

Pre-cook ground meat with onions, garlic, etc and separate into batches for recipes. It’s freezable, too, so for city gals/guys you could get one of those giant packs of meat you always see on discount at the grocery and cook it all at once.  I have a friend who does this, it’s a very viable option! If you don’t want to cook it all at once, use containers (or less green, freezer bags), separate into portions as soon as you get home, and freeze.

Having a great stocked pantry is also a must! Keep certain items on hand and you’ll never go hungry: Broth, noodles of various types, jarred sauces, canned vegetables, rice, and meat, cheese, and various types of bread in the freezer. Look for discounts and buy 2 of something if you can freeze it. More if you can afford it. Potatoes and onions in a basket.

One of the best uses for ‘overtime’ money or any small windfall is to go to a REAL meat locker, not a grocery store, and have them give you whatever you can get, the prices are lower (less overhead) and the meat is more fresh than the grocery. Fill up a deep freezer. If you can find someone with a hog/cow and have it butchered, it’s even better, you pay the going rate per pound, so if you get roast it’s the same price as steak the same price as hamburger. Try out the items from the place a few times before you place a big order, but we’ve dropped $200 before and had meat to last for, well, ever. Imagine not having to go and buy meat every week at the store. If you can do this with bonus money, it’s even better, because you don’t miss the cash, see what I mean? Most ground meat will last frozen around 3 months (sausage), 6 months – 1 year (pork or beef alone). The sausage is mixed with other ingredients, that’s why it doesn’t last as long, but we’ve eaten it at around the 6 month mark and it’s still fine. Non ground meat will last longer. Just be sure to check your deep freezer regularly to make sure it’s operating correctly! Oh and then it’s not ‘oh no! what are we having for supper’, but ‘hey what delicious recipe can I whip up, see here, I already have everything I need in my pantry and freezer! and I’m saving all that time by not running to the store!’

Frozen meatballs, microwaved, jarred sauce, Creamette ‘quick cook’ pasta takes 3 minutes to al dente and 5 to baby biteable! Drain pasta,  add sauce, zap the meatballs, add together and stir! For added protein, use quick boil meat or cheese stuffed frozen tortellini.

Use the same meatballs for a sub sandwich.

Do the same thing as above with pre-grilled/cooked chicken and jarred alfredo sauce.

You can make a giant pork roast in the crock pot/slow cooker and shred what’s left, use some leftovers that week, and freezing some for a later date. If you don’t feel like doing this, there are microwaveable, able to be frozen (if you find a deal) pre-made bbq chicken, beef, and pork in the refrigerated cases at the supermarket. These can microwave while you make something else. Or chase a toddler.

Quick Cuban Sandwich: Butter one side of 2 pieces of bread, put first down in skillet as if making ‘grilled cheese’, add some cooked (plain sliced or shredded) pork, favorite cheese, ham, and pickles and mustard! Add other piece of bread, cook, flip, etc. Serve with chips/fries/vegetables. If you’ve got a picky kid, delete items as needed and add a dipping sauce, or just do grilled cheese and make the fancy for yourself! A good for you canned soup completes the meal.

Quick egg salad: hard boiled eggs, your favorite ingredients, and the dressing right off the shelf: Marzetti’s cole slaw dressing. It’s tangy but not too sweet, and you never have to try and balance the vinegar and sugar, works well in potato salad and deviled eggs, too! Hard boiled eggs can be kept for up to a week in the shell in the refrigerator!!

Octopus dog:-for big kids, I can’t remember how they cooked the dogs, I’m thinking it’s microwave, but use your imagination, and do a quick google search, there are tons of pictures, the basis is that you slice longways several times  halfway up into a hot dog until it has 8 ‘tentacles’ like an octopus, serve on a bed of mac and cheese.

pizza/pizza bread: Use discount rack french bread or an instant pizza crust mix, jarred sauce, and your favorite pizza ingredients. Secure toddler in high chair and throw pizza ingredients on tray as you chop! By the time your pizza is done, toddler will have had most of the healthy portion of the meal, and if is still hungry, you just share a piece! Our baby LOVES green olives and requests more, more, more! Buy the discount french bread and freeze it. I often get mine for up to 60% off!

Add canned tuna or chicken, or chopped hot dogs and peas to cheesy mac from the microwave and stir.

Chop up some smoked sausage and add to Zatarain’s red beans and rice mix. They offer a low salt variety. For a toddler, check into skinless sausage. You can get this cooking and then ignore it until it’s ready.

chili mac: This can be as simple as microwaved pasta and a can of chili spiced beans/chili in a can, or you can go all out and add the beans, water and regular cook pasta to cooked meat and then stir in cheese at the last minute. Either way takes no time at all to prepare and is very hearty. Bonus would be having leftover homemade chili and adding that straight to macaroni and cheese.

Chicken broth, Amish noodles, and pre-cooked chicken.

If you make a pot roast, use leftovers, beef broth and noodles to make beef and noodles.

Small frozen shrimp, thawed under water, and tossed into a skillet with veggies and served over pasta or rice.

Things are looking up, driveway is started, culvert is started. Dozer work should start next week. HOUSE IS DONE! Needs to get on schedule for delivery. Found out that we have until April 18th, not March to get things done! Also our lovely loan lady said if we didn’t think we could get things done by then, she could pull our credit now and then if we needed a small loan we could do so with no issues.

We can also use hubby’s retirement fund if needed, and it would not be a negative against us. He checked and it would be just a few thousand dollars difference over 30 years with the company, even if we took half of what he has in there now. You pay it back (with low interest) over up to 5 years directly from your paycheck. This is an attractive option as it is done automatically. Even taking out the max and paying it back as slowly as possible, its only a few thousand difference. If we pay it back faster of course it’s less.

Has anyone heard of this or done this? Any negatives we don’t know about? We plan on asking a tax person when we get our taxes done tomorrow to see if it is a negative on taxes. We’re thinking that the new homebuyer credit would counterbalance perhaps?

Landlady’s house she is living in is small but nice and of course would have no upstairs or downstairs neighbors and lower utilities, seems like.  If we will have until April and can build the walls and stuff at our leisure, might do that.

This month’s carnival is about trying to get modern cloth diapers noticed by the media. Specifically, the Ellen show. I am one of the few not on twitter, so I can’t send the tweet out like most people are, so I’m adding my 2 cents the only way I can, by blogging about them!

If you would like to join in the carnival, click here!

Dear Ellen,

I’d love for the modern cloth diaper to be featured on your show. You reach a huge audience (after all, your goal is for world domination!) and that kind of spotlight is just what cloth diapers need. In this inherently more disposable world, we’ve forgotten that sometimes the old way to do things is the most simple, the most earth conscious and least expensive! As a nation, our disposable diaper companies are even marketing to some 3rd world countries, which are ill equipped to handle the disposal. Every disposable diapered baby puts up to 2 tons of unnecessary diaper garbage into our landfills. By the time it gets there, it’s plastic wrapped in plastic wrapped in plastic and will probably not biodegrade for, well, forever. Cloth diapers are also cute, convenient, and did I mention cute? The names are even cute: Bum Genius, Happy Heinys, and Rumparooz, just to name a few. Besides solid colors, they also come in patterns and in various types and forms to meet the modern mom’s needs. Most  day cares and babysitters, if shown, will use cloth diapers with no problems!  It’s no more work to wrap up a disposable in a garbage sack than to drop a cloth diaper in a wetbag. There are even biodegradable and compost-friendly options out there. No more moms running to the store because they just used their last one, if you see you’re running low, you just toss them in the wash! That means more cuddle time, less stress, and a healthier, more ‘green’ baby! I’ve even heard that cloth diapered babies potty train sooner, and as you can see below, wearing cloth hasn’t slowed my little one’s development. She can crawl, walk, and play with the best of them! I apologize in advance for the extreme cuteness!

At fifteen months, my girl has a hard head. She’s not afraid to fall, she’s not afraid of anything. She squeals ‘puppy’ and tackles the 85 lb black labs at my parents house. She inquisitively pokes the bark on a tree and the long weeds and blades of grass at our property. She explores. She cries. She screams. She signs ‘more’ ‘drink’ ‘more’ and says ‘please’. She gives dirty looks. For strangers, she will pout/frown and then once she’s gotten a reaction, she will smile. I’m not sure where she got that, but it wasn’t from me! She will give HUGE hugs. To us. Other people take a while. Not the dogs. Please say a silent prayer that those dogs continue to be patient with her. We have already started ‘pat them gently’ and although she doesn’t understand, we’re working on it. They are very good dogs to put up with her! She does eventually give good hugs. If you ask for a kiss, expect a bop in the mouth with her forehead. We don’t kiss on the lips here. Doesn’t stop her from kissing her stuffed animals (eating their faces), but she has figured out not to give us wet willies! She wants to help do chores. She wants you to blow her bubbles in the bathtub. She loves taking a bath and brushing her teeth. Don’t try to do laundry without her, that’s just wrong! She wants to go outside, ALL THE TIME! She’s growing up. I do kind of miss each stage as she grows out of it, but there’s so much to explore, so much to learn that it makes my heart glad. I’m her mommy, and no one can take that away! (click link below)

Billy Goat Gruff, Crossing Bridge. Look Out Troll!

We went through every more than one bedroom in the paper. We found one duplex that would give us a month to month. We found one triple wide trailer (I didnt even know they made those) that might consider it. Another that would consider it was in a townhouse, but they wanted $600 a month, and I would move into the place we lived 10 years ago for $420, because it looked a lot better, if that gives you any ideas as to the state of the place. The only one bedroom my husband looked at, he said it smelled like urine before he even got to the steps, and the smell never went away. Kind of makes me wonder what kind of people live in that complex.

That’s it. Even spelling out our plight didn’t change most people’s minds, which we understood and figured. Then we get a call when we’re in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner. The landlady’s house deal fell through. They won’t be closing March 1st after all. She, however, still wants to live here, so she will even trade us places, a 3 BR house with a yard (elderly neighbors) and we can live there until we are ready to go, no additional rent required, no additional signing of leases. She even apologized profusely for the neighbors we have had. As predicted, she said she would NOT live downstairs where the people are still moving out and cleaning, and she said if the people upstairs try leaving the door open on her, she’s padlocking it. Nice.

So, anyway, tomorrow when Matt gets home from work, we are going to look at a house to rent. We’ll see if we like it even remotely. It doesn’t have a dishwasher, but I’m more than willing to go without to get away from the harpies extremely confused people who live upstairs.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, keep your fingers crossed!

Well, it comes down to the fact that our contractors were not fast enough in getting stuff done. We are between a rock and a hard place. Our only option is probably to rent a different apartment for a month and then go from there.

Here’s the deal: Since our credit ‘pull’ was only good for 90 days and runs out March 18th, and since we can’t possibly get everything done before then, and risk a credit pull, and if they pull our credit and find out we borrowed money to finish the upstairs, then basically we won’t get our loan. As of now it seems we will have to wait until it is ‘too late’ to get our house done by the 18th, then have them pull our credit, get it delivered and worked on, and then get our mortgage approved.

Had they gone ahead and done the foundation and everything in November, we would have been ready to set the house immediately upon finishing, it would be in and we wouldn’t have to deal with this. Since this didn’t happen, AND our landlady wants to move in here as of March 1st, we are stuck moving to another place for a month, and slowly getting things done.

Why are we in such a pickle? Silly us, WE ASSUMED that we’d be able to finish the upstairs at our leisure after we were settled. We didn’t find out until after the order was placed that this was not the case, and that the whole place has to be finished in order to be appraised and settled.

Why can’t we pay with savings? Why, the FIRST appraiser, who helped push our loan back 4 months by not doing her job in the first place, why she compared our 8.5 acres 4 BR house to a 3BR house on less than an acre in town. It appraised too low, and we had to empty our savings to pay the difference, and secure the construction loan. We didn’t find out about her comparison until about a month ago. Way too late.  We’ve saved some more money, but that has to go to gravel. We thought we’d have some time to save some more, but to get the foundation in, NOW they tell us they have to have gravel down. After they’d told us for months it just had to be frozen and they could do it.  Too bad they didn’t tell us that in November, and none of this would be happening.

So now we’re up $h*t creek without a paddle. We can’t finish our house in time to move out of here March 1st pretty much no matter what, but we can’t get our house finished by March 18th totally, either.  Hopefully that makes sense. Either way, we are going to have to call about apartments today.

Sayre is the hostess for Fun Monday for Feb. 1st. She says: I want you to think about the movies that you OWN. Not movies you’ve seen, but the ones you felt strongly enough to go out and buy. You will be your very own awards committee, awarding your movies an Oscar in the following categories:

BEST PICTURE*BEST ACTOR*BEST ACTRESS*BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR*BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS*BEST ANIMATED PICTURE*BEST SCORE*BEST GROUP (Some movies come out with several parts or sequels. Most everyone’s got at least one set of something on their shelves – why that one?) You can include your nominations if you wish, but I’d also like to know why you think your winner in each category deserves to win.

This is a toughie for me! We mostly have animated flicks we figured our kid(s) would like later on, and a few other random things, but we don’t own a lot! I am completely ignoring my husband’s movies, as well. So without further ado, here they are:

BEST PICTURE-Shawkshank Redemption if you have not seen this movie, where have you been?
BEST ACTOR- Tim Allen as Scott Calvin/Santa Claus in The Santa Clause -I can’t help it, these movies are the best feel good movies, ever! His comedic timing is great.
BEST ACTRESS-Maggie Smith as Prof. Minerva McGonagall  Harry Potter Series – Maggie Smith rocks, I’ve loved her in everything, and I can’t imagine anyone pulling off this role better!
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR–This one is a tie, Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots and Eddie Murphy as Donkey in Shrek –without these foils, the movie would fall flat.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS-Ellen Degeneres as Dory in Finding Nemo — Just keep swimming!
BEST ANIMATED PICTURE- Over the Hedge.
BEST SCORE- I like the music from the Harry Potter movies.
BEST GROUP–Harry Potter series. This would be followed closely by the Santa Clause series, Shrek, and Ice Age movies.

Keeley is REALLY sick now. Bad diapers, not keeping food down. Doesn’t help that Matthew and I are sick too, but not with the same thing. Luckily, my nose is stuffy, but it doesn’t help that I had to dunk the diaper twice in the toilet, then rinse it in the tub and then rinse is 2 times in the washing machine before the stink went away. Of course, this was the first leak we had ever have, she must have done it as soon as she woke up, and it was a line about half an inch long that leaked out onto her pj pants from the top, I think they had rolled under her diaper and then pulled the yuck out when I picked her up. It didn’t get the sheets, but it was time to do laundry anyway (both diapers and her clothes). Since I have a rigid scheme with which I do diapers, and she had the issue with the first diaper of the new batch, that’s why I had to do all that to it, because I wasn’t going to mix it up with the other batch. It’s a Jill thing, just don’t ask. Needless to say, I cleaned her up the best I could, then stuck her in the tub standing up and washed her, front, back, and middle, rinsed her, dried her, got her dressed and then dealt with the diaper. She got some water and yarfed that. However her breast milk from this morning had stayed down. She wanted breakfast, so she had an egg, which I had already cooked before the water came up, and some applesauce, hoping the applesauce would keep the egg she kept signing for down.

This is her first real illness, and it does NOT help that it comes about a week before her doctor’s appointment, where I was hoping she would have gained some weight. Poor thing. She is being very good, though, and is napping, which is where I am heading, after I turn the washer back on.