Like Mother, Like Son

Poor Peter.  He's allergic to poison ivy, too!  

I couldn't tell at first, because I thought maybe his belly and legs were scratched up from climbing the fallen trees, but checking a couple of days later, it was definitely spreading, definitely a rash.  So we made an appointment for him with the same Doctor I went to, and sure enough, he has the same diagnosis. Poison Ivy allergy, just like his mama.

For the next 13 days, we'll be taking our medicines in the morning and lucky for me, he has no trouble with taking his in liquid form.

Looks like we both will have to be more careful when we play outside in the woods.  Hopefully, since he's only 3, he'll grow out of it, maybe, if he's lucky. Until then, I'll do my best to keep him away from poison ivy.

Sorry, kiddo. I know you can't understand just why mama won't let you run free and wild in the woods, but trust me when I say you can't.  We'll stay on the trails or we'll find some other thing to do, ok?

Signs of Fall

Definitely Fall around here.  We had a couple of days of absolutely perfect weather!

Fridays here have the best yard sales and there's a church nearby that holds a semi-annual indoor yard sale that I look forward to and one cannot miss! Just rows and rows of tables piled high with good stuff!

Of course we all went and found something for everyone.

Then on to town for a little bit of grocery shopping, Library, apple orchard, and then the scenic route home.

Saturday, Andrew fired up the chain saw and cut down some trees we had marked earlier. The kids had lots of fun climbing trees and we all pitched in, sorting logs, branches for kindling and pulling leaves to the burn pile.

Even Peter did his share of loading up the wagon with logs!

The little guy is strong!

This used to be a big leaning tree, shadowing our tiny orchard. I had a long swing hanging from it, but learned the hard way that if both ropes are not tied off at the same level, the swing won't swing evenly. So hardly ever got used. Seemed like the tree was hanging lower than the year before it, so with my blessing, Andrew cut it down. Good thing, it was hollow and probably wouldn't have lasted much longer anyway.

There will be plenty of wood from this tree to last us a while.

Working together is always fun!

Gotta have some fun mixed in with hard work!

After unloading the logs into the pole barn, the kids get a wagon ride back to the work site!

Wheee!!!

This cat will put up with anything for attention!

Silly Archie!

Apples!!  Local orchard had a good crop this year, so the apples are nice and big compared to last year.

These are Jonagolds-- love them! Only one bushel this year-- still have plenty of applesauce leftover from last year. I plan to freeze a few pies and we're eating plenty everyday-- so I just might get a second bushel. Wait and see.

Our so-called garden is still blessing us with tomatoes. Slowing down fast, though.

I got poison ivy again. Dang it!  Must have been from when we were working on the felled trees. I checked for poison ivy, worried a little bit about it, but just dove in and got to work.  Monday comes and I see itchy welts all over my face and I literally felt my lips blistering. I wasted no time in calling the medical center I went to last time and made an appointment.  Knowing I am allergic to poison ivy now, I know that all those over-the-counter creams will do nothing for me. It spread to my ears, neck, cheeks, lips and a bit on my arms and fingers lightening quick! Second day of meds and the spreading has stopped, but still itchy.

Looks like I'll have to back off on helping out with the wood pile. I really like working by Andrew's side, we make a good team. But in this case, I have a legitimate excuse. I'll just have to figure out a way to help with the wood in other ways, without actually touching the wood. I'm sure Andrew would be grateful for my help and appreciate when I hover behind him while he's sawing and I tell him where to cut, how to cut, where to put his hands while holding the saw, and maybe I'll even kick his feet apart a little bit more. Men like a back-seat driver, don't they? :o) (Love you babe!)

Thinking Out Loud

I thought summer was pretty hectic, turns out Fall is even more so! Why does it seem like there are multiple events happening on the same weekends? Makes it so hard to decide what to do, which to attend, which is more important, which would be fun for the kids. Most of the time though, money is the deciding factor-- entrance fees? gas? eating out?

This coming weekend is my high schools' Homecoming and an informal 20th class reunion (20 years? No way!). My high school was sort of an international school-- students came from all over the country, some from other countries.  Kind of makes it hard to get together for reunions when many of us are all spread out, as opposed to a local school and say, 75% of the students still live in the area.

We had a 10-year reunion, which had a pretty good turn-out. But only because there was a major event happening and most of us were coming into town anyway. This year, however, it's just a plain ol' Homecoming game. A lot of classmates are pushing for a cruise for our 25th reunion. Honestly? I'll probably never go on a cruise of my own choosing, preferring to travel by car or train to my destination, fly if I have to, but a cruise? No thanks. Too expensive and just not my thing. So why would I cough up big dough for a class reunion held on a ship? Did we graduate on the ship? I still have small children to think of-- 5 years from now, Peter will be 8;  my children will not be grown up and out of the house and I'm high on the hog with money to spare. I'd rather see the old school and all the changes that have been done. Several of the dorms have been torn down and new things have happened, I'd like to see that in person, not go on a ship in the middle of the ocean.

I planned on going to the Homecoming, but then I realized it's the same night as the shopping night for consignors at the consignment store. I worked my tail off gathering all the too-small, or fits-but-no-one-will-wear-it clothing, washed them, hung them on hangers, tagged and priced them, then took them to the shop to be scanned in by hand. Do you know what kind of miracles had to be performed just to accomplish all that with 4 children underfoot? What kind of sleep I gave up? Before we got there, I had told myself that there wouldn't be any shopping this year-- we can't afford it, definitely won't take the kids in or we'll never hear the end of their begging for something that's not a necessity.  But then, while there, I looked around and I saw a few things-- winter shoes for the kids (they can't wear flip-flops forever!), a set of books for our book-loving Evelyn, and even a few items that could be put away for Christmas, if I can get it before anyone else does.  Surely we can manage to scrounge up enough to purchase a few items. Consignment store prices aren't that high!

What's more important-- things our children need/want?  Or going to a Homecoming where only 10 or 15 of my class show up? I'm already heavily leaning to the first choice, and at the same time, the whiny girl inside me reallllly wants to go, no matter who will be there. I know for a fact that my friend from since 6th grade will be there, and a close friend is coming down for it. Some classmates that'd I'd really like to see aren't coming-- they live too far away, but swear that they'll come for the 25th cruise (rolling my eyes).  Don't really care about the others... yes, it'd be good to see them and at the same time-- eh, who cares. In all these years, since the 10th reunion, I've only kept in contact, close contact, as in talk-at-least-once-a-month contact, with maybe 5 school mates.

I feel like going to the Homecoming is selfish. I'd be driving 3 hours to go to DC, spend a couple hours hugging people I know but don't like enough to keep in touch with, repeating the same "here's what I've been up to lately" story over and over, fielding comments like, "yup, 4 kids! Who would have thunk it!" and "No, sorry, you don't know my husband, he's hearing" (it's a Deaf thing, to always ask who your spouse is, maybe they'll know him/her). It's nothing official, no plans in place to meet at a certain location, no eating arrangements, except a tentative maybe "let's go to the bar down the street", of which I'll bow out of, since I have to drive, and no idea who will actually be there since no one seems to be replying to the class Facebook page.

Yeah, it's more likely I won't go. I'll have to send an email to my 6th grade friend and gracefully bow out of attending.  My family comes first. I can't see making things more financially difficult for us by spending money on a 6 hour trip to see people that can't be bothered to reply to a simple request. And if I don't really care about seeing them, one way or the other, then why would I want to go in the first place? There. Problem solved.

Rubber Ducky, You're The One..

Ever since we got two new additions to the homestead,

I have Ernie's Rubber Ducky song playing on repeat in my head.

We got ducks!

 They look like White Pekin Ducks.

The people we got them from likely got them for Easter, since in their duckling pictures, their feathers were tinted pink and blue.

 Don't know the sex of them, don't care.

We talked about getting ducks before, so when these ducks showed up on a local exchange site, for free, we couldn't resist! She had no shelter for them and didn't want to build one for the coming winter, so she was giving them away.

 I love the little curls on the tips of their tail feathers!

 These two are tight! They stay together everywhere!

So much fun to watch!

 

 The kids all had fun watching them as we took them out of the cage. I was a little worried we took them out too soon, because one bolted and ran into the woods and the other stayed for a while. I wondered what the roosters would do. The dog? Would the ducks come back? I hadn't made a pen for them yet.

 Turns out, I needn't have worried. These two ducks seem to know this is home already. They hang around, eating grass, leaves, and I assume, bugs in the ground. They wander in the woods, always within sight, then come back to their little wading pool and swim and bathe.

 

 As it got dark, and the chickens put themselves to bed in the coop, the ducks came close to the house, probably looking for a place to settle for the night.  Previous owners only had them in a small fenced in area with no shelter, so I have to think they are not used to sleeping inside of something. I rounded the ducks up and put them in the dog carrier, then put the cage inside the coop for the night.

 I don't know if that's ideal for long-term-- keeping the ducks with the chickens in the chicken coop.  I know of others through blogger that have ducks and chickens, and even one family with one duck that thinks it's a chicken and hangs out with the chickens. In my case, these two ducks have never seen chickens before, and the chickens seem afraid of the ducks. They hide in the coop when the ducks are around it and don't come out until the ducks are out of sight. Curious!

 I have enough lumber scraps to make a largish dog house-style shelter for them. I've been turning over plans in my head ever since we got them home yesterday afternoon. I'll probably place the duck shelter a little bit away from the chicken coop and build a temporary pen until they learn to go in the shelter at night. The little pool will go near it, as well.

 The ducks are fun to watch when they get into the pool.

It's fun to see them dunking themselves and splashing around.

The previous owners gave this to us, but eventually, I'd like to get a little bit bigger one, so they can actually swim around some. It looks like they are standing and not really swimming. The water is only about 6 inches or so deep.

We've named them Cheese and Quackers.

:o)



Scratching the Itch

I've been itching to get on the sewing machine lately and it's so hard during the day with Peter fiddling around with all the buttons on the machine, pulling the spool of thread off, walking around me and tripping over the cord, that I just wait until the kids go to bed. But by then I'm too tired or I have something else more pressing than sewing, so it gets put off and put off and put off.

Sewing and crafting is good for me. It's good for my soul. Sooner or later I have to make time to do something and get it out of my system and when it's finished, I feel better.

Last year, a wonderful bloggy friend sent Evelyn a box of fabrics for Christmas (Thanks, Karen!).  I gave Evelyn most of it when I put it inside her very own sewing box, but kept out a few things-- either I thought she wasn't ready for it, or *ahem* I wanted it for myself. heh. Included in the box of fabrics was a set of charm squares, I think that's what you call them.  A rainbow of colors in the same design but different colors, all pre-cut into 4x4 squares. I've been itching since before Christmas to make something with them, but didn't know what.

Finally, inspiration struck and I spent several days looking at different pinwheel quilts on the internet, looking for a design I liked. I don't have enough squares to make a full size quilt, but I wasn't looking to do that. I just wanted to make something quickly. I needed my fix!

Ta-dah!!

 My first tiny mini-quilt. It's the exact size of a potholder! hahaha!

It's not perfect, some of the corners don't match up and I flubbed the binding.

I like the orange and turquoise together.

I like how if you stare at it long enough, the pattern starts to change-- squares, diamonds, triangles, squares within a square...

I'll probably end up using it as a potholder. 

I used a scrap of fleece as batting in the middle.

 

I see a lot of quilters adding a little something-something to the backs of their quilts,

giving it that extra special bit and I ended up with an extra pinwheel left over after I pieced the front together, so why not? There's my little extra special something-something!

I did this one, too. Can you see the diamond pattern?

Trying to line up all the tiny squares on this was tough!

I should have used a different fabric, switching out one of the red-and-white ones.

Like keeping the stripes, both the green and the red/white, and adding a different color stripe. The red-and-white polka dot is cute, but it doesn't help define the diamond pattern.

At least I got all the stripes lined up the same way.

This is also the size of a potholder-- the squares are the size of a dime.

 I'm thinking I'll finish it and let the girls have it for a doll quilt.

Extreme Couponer For A Day

When I shop with coupons, I save an average of $25 to $30 each trip.  My savings run about 50-60%.  Sometimes, I only save $10 off $70, but hey, every little bit helps.

Once in awhile, I save big and it makes me feel like I'm one of those crazy coupon ladies that walk out of the store with $300 worth of groceries and only paying $5.

I had one of those days recently! I have to share:

 Martin's food stores was running a special-- Buy 5 Quaker Oatmeal bars at $2 each, and recieve a $5 catalina to use on your next shopping trip. (A catalina is a coupon that prints out with your reciept, to be used later) They happened to have coupons on the display for 75 cents off 1 box. I grabbed 15 coupons and made 3 trips. Here's what I did:

1st trip: Bought 5 boxes = $10  Used 5- $.75/1 coupons (the first gets doubled to $1) for a total of $4 off. Pay $6 and get a $5 catalina.

2nd trip: Bought 5 boxes = $10  Used 5- $.75/1 coupons for a total of $4 off AND the $5 catalina.
Pay $1 and get a $5 catalina.

3rd trip: Repeat #2, pay $1 and get a $5 catalina.

That makes $30 worth of Quaker Oat bars for only $3 after subtracting the catalina! That equals to .20 cents a box!!   Nice!  A round of applause please!  Thank you, thank you! 

Next, I went to Target.  They will price match any store's current ad, so I took a Food Lion ad which had a sale on 12 oz boxes of Rice Krispies for $1.50.  That alone is cheap, but there was also a manufacturer's coupon for $1 off 2 kellogg's cereal AND a Target coupon for $1 off 2 Kellogg's cereal-- nice! Instead of paying $2.94 a box, I price-match and save $1.44 per box. After price-match, buy 2 boxes for $3, use both Target AND manufacturer's coupon and pay $1 for BOTH boxes! I got lucky today, though, because the clerk made an error and entered $1.25 eight separate times for eight separate boxes! So I ended up getting 8 boxes for 50 cents each after coupons! Sweet!

I also had my eye on a large picture frame that suddenly went on clearance and with a birthday gift certificate burning a hole in my pocket, it was the perfect time to pick it up. It was marked down 50% off, $24.99 down to $12.48. A twin-size sheet set in a boy theme I had my eye on was also on clearance, and I was waiting for it to come down lower, but since there were only 2 left, I had to grab it-- marked down 50% off, $17.99 down to $8.98.

Picked up the new Velveeta Cheesy dinner kit, too, for $2.04 and 2 toy cars, priced at $3.29 each. Lucky for me, there was a coupon on the Rice Krispies box that stated: Free car with purchase of 3 boxes of cereal! With 8 boxes of cereal, I had more than enough, and I found 2 coupons, which means 2 free cars! The cars will be put away for Christmas.

Here's the breakdown:
8 boxes Rice Krispies- $1.25 each
2 toy cars- $3.29 each
1 Velveeta Cheesy dinner $2.04
1 Frame $12.48
1 sheet set $8.98
Grand total: $40.08 (Total value is $75.12)
Used 4- $1/2 Kellogg's cereal Target coupons
         2- $1/2 Kellogg's cereal manu. coupons
         1- $1/1 Velveeta coupon
         1- $.50/1 Velveeta Target coupon
         2- FREE car wyb 3 boxes Rice Krispies coupons

Paid: $27.28!!  Had I not bought the frame and the sheets, my total would have been only $5.82 for 8 boxes of cereal, 2 cars, and the velveeta dinner!!  Pretty good to me!!

Any good couponing trip for you lately??  Do tell! :o)

Another Year Gone

My birthday has come and gone.

Another year wiser, I hope.

Family came two days in a row to help celebrate my birthday.

That's the best gift right there-- spending time with family.

My kids gave me hand made cards-- so precious!

I made cake Friday to share with my Aunt, her birthday was on the 7th.

It was german chocolate, her favorite.

The kids wanted to know why it was called "german" chocolate and we explained about different chocolates and locales and Germany. Andrew went on to tell them that they are part German, since Andrew and I both are part German.

Sylvia piped up, "And now since I'm eating [german chocolate] cake, I'm even more German!"

Too funny!

I made a second cake on Saturday, to share with my Father-in-Law. His birthday was on the 10th.

This time it was both of our favorites-- Pineapple Upside Down cake. yum!

I don't need much, as long as I have my loved ones, I'm happy.

Here's to another year!