Ready for the Storm

Hurricane Sandy is supposed to hit our area sometime tonight. We're already getting some heavy winds and light rain. I'm not worried about having to evacuate, like the folks in more coastal areas, but with the towering old trees that we have around here a power outage is a very real possibility.

I'm a person that likes to be prepared ahead of time. My hubby says I go into panic mode. Actually I think I'm pretty calm about it. Mostly. Today, during a full day of teaching my kids, I ran around the house like crazy getting ready for the storm.

I came close to getting caught up on the laundry, because even if the power goes out, we have a busy week ahead of us. I froze extra ice cubes in the hopes that we'll be able to save the perishables that we have in stock.

Then I also did a bit of cooking, trying to think of things that could be eaten cold if necessary. I made four loaves of bread, one pound of brown rice, a dozen and a half hard boiled eggs, a pound of bacon, and two pounds of chicken. Yesterday I made a huge tub of yogurt. Tomorrow I hope to be able to make some applesauce. None of it will go to waste even if we're lucky and have no outages. I'll be able to cobble together hot or cold meals of some sort by mixing in some fruits and veggies we have on hand with all that I cooked. It will actually be a time saver on our busy weeknights.

Just now I finished putting fresh batteries in all of the flashlights and gathering up some candles. I even have a stash of glow sticks ready, they're great for keeping the kids calm and happy during a dark night.

Oh, I undecorated our porch too, storing our Halloween decorations safely in the garage. I'm sure my kids aren't the only ones wondering whether they'll get to trick or treat this year. If Frankenstorm ruins our plans, at least we're fully stocked on candy!

I feel as ready as I can be for the storm, even as I hope that all of my preparations were in vain. I pray that everyone in the storm's path stays safe and well and that this storm turns out to be not so scary after all.

Recycled Bathroom Art

My sister-in-law gave me an old book of slightly altered nursery rhymes years ago.I'm not normally one to take apart books, but this was really an old marketing brochure, not something that I would read to my children. I was expecting my oldest at the time, and intended to frame some Mother Goose prints for the nursery. I got a little sidetracked, and never did it. He's twelve now, and doesn't want nursery rhyme pictures in his room so much.

I re-discovered the book recently while looking through a stack of old photos, and realized that they might be the perfect accessory for the kid's bathroom. At the craft store, I found some $5 matted frames, and set to work.

The finished pictures look great in the kid's bathroom, since many of them have little poems about bathing and washing. They're whimsical enough for a children's bathroom, and yet the black frames lend an air of sophistication appropriate for a room that guests also use.

I like the way they look so much that I'm going to buy more frames for the other pictures. There's one that would be perfect in the laundry room!

Sometimes good things really do come to those who wait!


linking to these parties:  It's A Piece O' Cake Linky Party  Serenity Now  Strut Your Stuff Saturday

Front Porch Makeover

When we bought this house just over two years ago, we knew that there was lots that we wanted to change about it. Some of the renovations were major, like the kitchen and two of the bathrooms, and we undertook those first. Other problem areas were more minor, but just as irritating in their own way.

This is the mismatched, pink, front walk and porch that we lived with until recently.

We purchased our home in the middle of winter, so maybe the fact that this eyesore of an entrance way was partially, snow covered when we first saw it convinced us that it wasn't so bad. It was. I truly don't know what the previous owners were thinking.

Finally, this spring we had it fixed. We looked at our options and quickly realized that recovering the existing stamped concrete was the most affordable and quickest choice. We're thrilled with the way it came out. As my husband says, it doesn't stick out anymore.

What was pink is now a more neutral gray. Amazingly, our neighbors say that they never really noticed the pink. I wonder if they're just being polite?

Aside from some flowerbed work, that's one more project completed around here. Only a thousand or so to go. The joys of home ownership!

linking to:  Weekend Bloggy Reading

Frugal Kitchen Tips

In keeping with yesterday's post I wanted to share some small ways that I've learned to get the most out of my food dollar. Some of these are ideas that I never would have thought of, but I've tried them all and they really work. I'm always on the look out for new ideas, so feel free to pass any along.

1-When a recipe calls for only half an onion, chop the remaining half. Store it in a zipper bag in the freezer, and the next time you need an onion the chopping is already done.

2-The above tip also works great for peppers.

3-Save any leftover, cooked vegetables. They still taste fine in soups and casseroles.

4-Freeze leftover tomato paste in ice-cube trays, then place into freezer bags when frozen. Each cube is about 1-2 tablespoons of tomato paste, perfect for adding a dash of flavor to recipes.

5-Yogurt and wine cubes also work. I haven't tried it yet, but I suspect beef and chicken broth could also be frozen this way.

6-If you're not going to finish a loaf of bread before it goes stale, freeze it. It can be defrosted and used for a strata recipe. With a few eggs and some cheese, it makes a very economical meal.

7-If a recipe calls for buttermilk, an easy substitute is 1 cup of milk mixed with 1 tbsp of white vinegar. Let the mixture sit for several minutes, until it curdles.

8-Even small amounts of leftover meat can be saved for use in soups or stir fries.

9-Leftover rice makes great fried rice. Heat in an oiled skillet with onion, veggies and some strips of scrambled egg. Sprinkle liberally with soy sauce and serve.

10-In bread recipes that call for honey, molasses, or maple syrup, any of the three can be used interchangeably in a pinch.

11-Perhaps the most important frugal tip is to schedule a regular leftover night. It's amazing how much perfectly good food just gets forgotten about in the back of the fridge!

Day Off

It's President's Day so we're taking the day off from schoolwork. My darling hubby went to the office so that means I have lots of free time... to catch up on housework and organizing. Oh the luxury! I've really got to start planning a summer vacation. Soon.

The kids got to sleep in this morning. Now it's lunchtime and they've officially played too much Wii. As soon as I kick them outside, I'll be able to really get some work done. This is how my efforts have gone so far:

 Me, "I want you to turn off the TV and go outside for some fresh air."

 K-boy, "What's for lunch?" Me, "You just finished breakfast." K-boy, "I'm hungry."

 M-girl, "I'm going out right now!" Me, "You need to wear socks and a coat, it's February." M-girl, "Oh, I forgot."

 D-boy, "No, outside is boring! I want to play Wii."

 This might take a while.

 It's time to de-clutter the schoolroom, and re-shelve some books. Somehow, mid-way through every week, everyone forgets where their book cubby is.

I let M-girl mix up homemade oatmeal packets this morning, so there's the kitchen to clean up too. I never fully realized before just how many oats are in a 42 oz canister of oatmeal. Now I do, as half of it is currently covering my kitchen island and floor. She ate a healthy breakfast though, so my goal was accomplished, sort of.

Yesterday, BadDad was painting the basement, so I didn't get to my usual quota of laundry. Today I get to spend a good chunk of my day down there making up for lost time.


Days off are the best!

Laundry Daze

One of the hardest tasks for me to keep ahead of around here is laundry. Every day around here is laundry day. If I'm not backed up with loads waiting to be washed, I'm swamped with baskets of clean clothes awaiting folding and putting away. It seems to be a chore that I can never check off my to-do list.

Our home improvement project right now is renovating the finished part of the basement. This serves as our playroom/laundry room. It's a big space, so room is not an issue. We're just hoping to avoid having laundry piles all over the floor.

When we moved into this house, there was a huge, built-in bar down in that room. Actually there's also mirror tiles on one wall and dark paneling on others. This must have been one groovy house back in the 70's!

Anyway, BadDad had the idea to remove the bar from the corner that it was tucked in. There's plenty of nicer spaces in this house to have a drink without having to retreat to the basement to do it. He moved it over opposite to the washer and dryer. The shelves that were meant to hold bar ware are plenty big enough to hold baskets for sorting loads of laundry.It's dark and gloomy down there right now, but once we paint and put in new flooring, it could actually be pleasant to stand there and fold clean clothes. Well, as pleasant as laundry can ever be. Soon I'll have no more excuses to avoid folding clothes. Hooray?

Weekly Planning

Being a homeschooling mom has forced me to become more organized in many ways. Each day and week starts with at least a general plan of what I (and the kids) have to accomplish. Every year it becomes a bit harder too. The academics get more challenging as the grade levels go up, we're involved in more outside activities, and now that D-boy is kindergarten age, I'm officially homeschooling all three of my children. On top of that, I have all of the regular jobs of just being a mom and running a household.

One thing that helps me is meal planning. I like to allow flexibility, because I don't always know what the week will bring, and just how draining a particular day might be. Still, I feel better just knowing that I've got a plan for each dinner, and the time and ingredients to make it. I try to plan the easiest meals for the most grueling days, so I'm not in such a rush. This week for instance, I made a nice chicken casserole for Sunday dinner tonight. I know that on Tuesday and Wednesday, I'll barely be getting home in time to cook dinner so for those days I'm planning pork chops in the slow cooker, and a last minute beef casserole. The remaining days can be filled with homemade Macaroni and Cheese, homemade pizza, Pasta Primavera and one leftover night.

As far as academic planning, I know that we need to make the most of Monday, Tuesday, and Friday this week. Those are days that we'll be home all day, and we'll work as long as it takes to get every subject in. K-boy and M-girl have drama all afternoon on Wednesday (which gives me one on one time with D-boy). Thursday afternoons are taken up with our homeschooling group. On days when we have to be out for the afternoon, we focus on the core subjects in the morning (math, grammar, spelling, reading) and get as much done as we can.

Household chores tend to get done on those days when we're here all day too. I'm usually running between the schoolroom and the laundry room or kitchen. The kids all have cleaning responsibilities. I usually have to double-check, and sometimes re-do, but at least they're learning!

I've learned over the past four years to build flexibility into our schedule. Someone gets sick, an activity gets changed, or certain subjects are taking longer than predicted. As long as we still have the goal in sight, we're able to bounce back again.