Too busy to blog

Real life is fun too.  Who knew?

Be back soon … maybe.

**All haiku’s around here are inspired by Leslie … one of the cool kids.

Who can resist the sing-song call of the ice cream truck rambling slowly down the street?

Up until this year my answer to that question has always been, “It doesn’t.”  It’s been really sad.  Still, I try.  This year the children and I started early planting seeds.  It was an abysmal failure.  We replaced our sad, un-sprouted seeds with seedlings from a local nursery and forged ahead undaunted.  I am so glad we did.  Yesterday, we enjoyed our first bit of harvest: sliced tomatoes lightly salted with mozzarella and fresh basil.  Even such a simple meal tastes fine when picked from your own backyard.

• All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew
• Four Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman

You’ll remember, of course, that we put up a pool this year.  It has been wonderful for the children to swim on hot afternoons.  Sister has taught herself how to go underwater and do flips (front and back).  She has also learned that you can open your eyes beneath the surface and that you only have to hold your nose if you want to.  Brother is learning how to deal with all of Sister’s antics and how to give orders safely perched upon the ladder.

We learned about something else around here too - something not so wonderful.  Swimmer’s ear.  Sister complained of pain in her ear so we went to the doctor who prescribed heavy-duty ear drops to clear the infection - which they did.  It was a somewhat unpleasant experience with crying and pleading and a few angry words (That was just me; you can only imagine how Sister took it.)  so we are not keen on repeating the experience.  To that end we put  2-3 Swim-Ear drops in Sister’s ears each time she gets out of the pool.  I could have purchased some at the store to the tune of $4 per ounce but chose instead to make my own with equal parts rubbing alcohol and white vinegar and packaged them in this pretty container.  Cheap solutions work for me.

For other great tips check out this list.

~edited 6/9/08 to distribute asterisks evenly between all points so as not to confuse Julie and to correct a grammatical error because” it’s ” and “its ” are Not the same.

*If you discover a golf club in your bathroom just let it go.  Exploring the whyfors of its presence will get you nowhere.

~~~~~

*After dinner out at a Chinese restaurant:

Will’s fortune: “Life to you is a dashing, bold adventure”

Brother’s fortune:  “Knowledge and not doing are equal to not knowing at all.”

Sister’s comment: “Hmm Dad, maybe you and Brother should switch.”

~~~~~

*While reading this book you may need to describe a picture meant to represent a hole in the ice.  Consider that “ice hole” may not be the best phrasing to share with a parrot-like three year old who hasn’t quite mastered clear pronunciation.

~~~~~

*I caught my husband secretly watching something on the computer.  He was completely enthralled.  Ooohing and ahhhing - practically drooling on the screen.  “Ahem.”  He looked up wide eyed in my direction and a classic, “I am so busted.” look crossed his face.

He was watching:

A. visual 900 numbers

B. YouTube videos of Baywatch

C. This

Only in the Kingdom of Geek could the correct answer ever be C.  … Welcome to my world.

Heather over at Untraditional Home wrote this line while describing how her family celebrated the Fourth.

“And catching lightening bugs with uncle James.”

This made me think of our own celebration.  We helped put on a huge party at my parent’s house.  When it was over and I asked Sister what she liked best about the evening she immediate replied, “catching fireflies”.  I smile still at her answer.  It was not the sparklers, nor the mounds of food savory and sweet; not even the bajillion fireworks but the fireflies that lingered in her memory.  Makes me think of that verse about the lilies.

“Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

Luke 12:27 (NKJ)

Nothing compares to our God and His marvelous creations.  Nothing.

and what day says “summer” better than July 4th. 

Strawberry-Banana Ice Cream

(original recipe from FoodGeeks.com)

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup whole milk (I used 2% and it worked just fine.)

2 tsp. arrowroot (This is a thickener like cornstarch but they are not the same so no substituting.)

2 egg yolks (Of course you should only consume raw egg that is absolutely fresh.  Save back and freeze the egg whites and you’ll have just what you need when it’s time to make Nana’s Banana Bread.)

1 large, ripe banana

1 cup strawberries

1/2 cup agave nectar

Mix cream, milk, agave and arrowroot.  Pre-chill in freezer for 20 to 30 min.  Peel and smash banana.  Puree strawberries including green leaves on top in a blender.  Whisk egg yolks in a small bowl.  Add chilled cream mixture and banana to strawberry puree.  Add to ice cream maker and follow the manufacturers instructions.

Happy Independence Day, America!

We’ve had flannel wipes in our home for quite some time now.  Purchased during a “green moment” they’re one of my  little contributions toward saving the planet and all that.  They are incredibly soft and surprisingly easy to use and maintain once you know few tricks.

Trick #1 - Stain Removal

I keep a bucket near my washer filled with water and a scoop of OxiClean.  Since I don’t use bleach for anything (which is a whole different post) any super soiled items go here to soak overnight before washing.  This includes soiled wipes.  I read about this tip here and like her, I’ve not had any trouble with staining.

Trick #2 - Wipes On the Go

Sometimes I need wipes when I’m out and about since I don’t want to throw away my flannel investment I carry two small sandwich bags in my diaper bag/purse.  In one I place a few moistened wipes.  The other is empty and clearly marked “for soiled wipes only.”  After using a wipe I simply store it in the “soiled” bag until I get home where I drop it in my wash bucket. (see Trick #1)  If you use cloth diapers you probably already have a wet bag that works the same way.

Trick #3 - The “Wet” Part of Wet Wipes

For a while I ran a wipe under water when I needed one which worked well enough but recently I whipped up this solution (It took about 3 minutes.) and poured it over my wipes so they are all pre-moistened.

2 cups water

1/8 cup baby oil

1/8 cup shampoo (The original recipe calls for baby shampoo but I use this.)

3 drops tea tree oil

Place all ingredients in a sealed jar and shake until mixed.  You could put this in a sprayer for use each time or you could do what I did and place your wipes in an airtight container then pour the solution over them.  I only used about half of the mixture.  The rest I’ve labeled and stored away for future use.

Trick #4 - Dispensing

I have an old Pampers wipe container that was designed for pop up’s so this is how I fold my wipes before I put them in.

Continue folding this way until you run out of wipes then place them in the container and use just like disposable pop ups.

Trick #5 - Making Your Own?

I didn’t do this but it occurs to me that if you have any sewing ability at all it would be no problem to make your own.  The ones I have are rectangular pieces of flannel that are simply serged around the edges.  If you’re like me and you work best from instructions check these out.  This lady seems to be an old pro.  Imagine all the cute designs you could have by making your own.  Sadly, mine are just plain white.  If you make cut ones let me know!  I’ll try not to be jealous.

Previous savings - $1 dollar and 25 cents

Vacuuming the living room rug - 25 cents

Scrubbing down the back door - 50 cents

Doing a load of laundry (start to finish) - 2 dollars

Putting away all the dishes - 1 dollar

Hosing down the back windows - 25 cents

Dusting the baseboards - 50 cents

Clearing fridge of artwork and other miscellany - 25 cents

Cleaning up the whole den (even though most of it was your brother’s mess) - 50 cents

Watering the garden - 25 cents

Buying your very own fish and food with your very own money  -

Bloggityville, meet Sparky … and Ghosty (He looks vaguely like a stain on that bit o’ white near the bottom and he’s a ghost shrimp …. which explains why he’s so hard to see and explains why he’s called “Ghosty”.  We are nothing if not creative around here.)