Venison Stroganoff

Quarantine life is interesting and means you really don't want anything to go to waste. That includes the 16 ounce container of sour cream close to expiration I found in our refrigerator today. What to make with it in a hurry?

Since we have a freezer full of ground deer meat, Venison Stroganoff made sense. What made even more sense was using that fabulous kitchen helper, the pressure cooker. We have an InstantPot, so directions cater to that brand.

Ingredients 

1 lb ground venison/deer/beef

16 oz sour cream

10.5 oz can cream of mushroom soup

1 cup water

4 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

2 beef bouillon cubes

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp salt - We like the flavor Himalayan salt adds to dishes.
1/2 tsp Thyme
Tapioca Starch or flour to thicken as needed

Place water, frozen meat, soup, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt in to InstantPot. Close vent, set pressure to high, and set time to 30 minutes. Allow InstantPot to natural pressure release for 10 minutes once done.  Release any remaining pressure carefully. Open lid, set InstantPot to "Saute," add beef bouillon, and break up meat into small pieces. Stir in sour cream and set InstantPot to "Warm." For thicker sauce, add tapioca flour/starch or traditional flour. Serve over noodles, rice, mashed potatoes, or pasta. Many in our family like to add Tony's seasoning salt to their dishes. 

Happy cooking!!

Bouquet of Life

As I drove to my meeting, the bouquet kept catching my eye. It took me a while to realize why.

My mom grew the flowers, and our oldest daughter picked the flowers.  I had the job of arranging the flowers.

It was meant to be a simple bouquet to thank the hostess of my meeting that night, composed of imperfect flowers, twine, a mason jar, and, very possibly, a bug or two. I finally realized it was so much more than the addition of imperfect pieces.  Three generations of hands touched that bouquet; it represented this moment in our lives - my life - so well.

I am blessed to live on the same property with my parents and to have coffee with them every morning, to talk about farm stuff, school, daily moments - to share life with them completely.

I am also blessed at this moment to still have all of my children at home. Our oldest girl is at a tender and capable age, but she is growing quickly, so quickly. She has my heart more than she knows.

That simple bouquet represents one of the sweetest stages of life for me - being sandwiched between two wonderful women - One who has paved the road before me and one who forges new paths behind us.

I don't often treasure these moments like I should, and I am thankful that the simple composition of flowers, a mason jar, and twine made me aware of this special time.  God works like that, using our simple and imperfect vessels to communicate his message and his love.

It Was a Beautiful Day at the Park

It was beautiful at the park today...

I went to the park today, the park I went to often as a kid, the only playground I knew. The weather was crisp and clear with the first hints of fall. My children loved it. But as they ran and played and discovered the new equipment, I found that we had brought extra people with us.



Standing there watching the kids play, I couldn't help but see the old equipment that had been replaced - the slide and merry-go-round and out-dated, metal bucket swings where I spent my childhood. Seeing through eyes of yesterday, I realized lots of people were at the playground, even if no one else could see them.

Wasn't my Pappaw over there on the bench offering me a slice of fresh pear cut with his pocket knife? I'm sure he was ready to sit after pushing me on the swings and watching me run around endlessly. Although the bench has been moved and only a stump remained of the tree that shaded it, I still saw that he had a love for life and me matched by few.

Wasn't my Mammaw waiting for me at the bottom of the slide with a pocket of hard candies including my favorite yellow cellophane-wrapped butterscotch? I bet she was surprised when I announced: "Only SIX more years until I'm a teenager!!" Her fierce love and prayers kept me through those teenage years and well into my early years of motherhood.

I could feel the whispers of my great grandparents in their snug house just down the street. You almost had to press your face to the chain link to see their house on the hill. But they were there, a mystery of old people and old things who didn't make sense to me. I now see so much more than I did then, their love and dedication that brought our family through tough times and good.

And, just over there, at the really basic monkey bars that were repainted for the park updates, I could see myself and two friends just having finished an early morning run the summer before college, soaking up those last few minutes before we transitioned to young adults. Those kids didn't know where life would take them. I see a little more of their stories now, and I'm thankful they had that summer to fellowship and enjoy a friendship that, while true, was eroded by distance and different milestones in life.

Under that oak tree, I can make out the shape of the see-saw in the dusk of a summer night, one that had a sadly short life in the playground and of which nothing remains. I could hear the late teenage couple embarrassingly answering the question posed by other people in the park of whether they were boyfriend and girlfriend... of course, they weren't!  ...if you ignored the fact they had been hanging out together all summer long going on long, meandering walks at night, just like the one that took them to the seesaw at the playground. The four children of that couple were enjoying the park today, even if they can't see that long gone see-saw.

Wiping the sudden and unexpected of onset of tears while pushing my four-year-old in a brand new swing that didn't creak and have peeling paint, I saw all of these people at the park, and I realized that they would be with me every time I came to the park. There love was there surrounding me, those experiences making me who I am. My children didn't see those people, but their lives are touched by them everyday.

It was a beautiful day at the park.

Finding Joy

"Joy" is quite the buzzword here at the beginning of 2019.  Things are either sparking joy or being moved on to File 13 or a donation bin as many people seek to tidy up their lives. 

No doubt, tidying up the external definitely makes us feel a lot better, at least for the short term.  However, where does lasting joy come from?

Two years ago on a wonderful Disney World vacation, I realized that I was seeking joy in the wrong place.  We had experienced two wonderful days at Disney, and I returned to the hotel on Day 2 ready to take on our mid-trip laundry pile.  I grabbed up all of our new clothes for the trip and even a couple of special quilts that had experienced some "trauma" on the trip for one large laundry load.  All was well and good, I was on top of the world and on top of things in general... until I went to pull the load from the dryer. Hark! The boy child had left crayons in his pocket which melted over everything in a spectacular display.  What quickly followed were Google searches, pleas for tips on social media, and my sainted husband making a late night trip to the local Wal-Mart for a bevy of supplies.  I spent a large portion of the night and early morning hours donning rubber gloves and trying a variety of stain busting methods that involved the hotel room bathtub filled multiple times with hot water and LOTS of trips to the hotel laundry room. 

I felt angry, cheated, underappreciated, foolish for not checking pockets, embarrassed, and generally distraught.  I carried those feelings into  Day 3 and unfortunately shared those angry feelings with the ones I love most.

Then it hit me - I had been taking joy in THINGS. 

All things are perishable and destined to become dust. The Bible tells us to take our joy in the Lord. How much easier is it for the Devil to steal our joy when we put it in things, experiences, and people???

Those new clothes were destined for the trash bin at some point.  That point just came a LOT sooner than I expected. 

We can let such things destroy us, or we can take our joy in the imperishable, ETERNAL God. Which do you choose?

"Little" Obedience

Obedience.  Obedience isn’t a word we like to think about, but it is a necessary word.  In our house, “because I said so” is a frequently repeated phrase.  When we ask for our children to obey us, we want them to act immediately.  Delayed obedience is disobedience.  And disobedience puts us outside of the circle of God’s will.  Delayed obedience, likewise, places children outside the protection of their parents. When we tell a child not to run in a street or touch a hot stove, we need them to trust us and act immediately – even when it doesn’t make sense to them. To not do so can mean serious harm for the child.

In the same way, God wants immediate obedience from us… even though WE don’t always understand why.  In fact, we often think of obedience in big terms – leading God’s children out of Israel, building an ark when the world has never seen rain before, or being missionaries in a hostile country.  But we need to be obedient even in the small acts that don’t make sense to us.  Things that are so simple that we feel surely God isn’t asking us to do that.

In 2 Kings Chapter 5, Naaman is a well-known and well-respected army commander.  He leads thousands of men, and the king looks upon him favorably.  However, Naaman suffers from a skin disease.  We don’t know exactly what the disease is, but it is clearly a torment to him.  Naaman’s servant girl tells him of a prophet in Israel who can heal him. With the king’s blessing and under great expectations, Naaman undertakes a big journey with gifts of gold, silver, and clothing in tow.  When he finally reaches Elisha’s home, Elisha sends a messenger out to meet Naaman and tells him to wash seven times in the Jordan River.  “What?!” Naaman is angry.  He is an important man who has traveled many miles and put his life on hold with the expectation that this great prophet would come out and call upon his God over Naaman.  Instead, he is told by the prophet’s servant go wash in the local body of water that Naaman deems well beneath those of his own homeland.  Blessedly, Naaman’s own servant speaks in wisdom, and says, “My father, would you not have done a more difficult thing? How much more so can you do this?”  Naaman did as Elisha commanded, and he was healed.  It was so easy it didn’t make sense.

In one of my social media groups, a woman found out she and her husband were pregnant with their sixth child.  This was an unwanted surprise, and they made plans to visit an abortion clinic.  On their way to the clinic, they stopped at a gas station.  A stranger went out of her way to walk up to the mother, smile at her, wish her a good day, and say “God bless you!” The reluctant mother felt her attitude shift. At the appointment, during the consultation prior to surgery, she just felt they needed to leave.  Crying, she urged her husband to go, and leave they did.  They scheduled a regular maternity appointment with an OB/GYN and are excitedly looking forward to the arrival of baby number six in August.

What do we know about the woman at the gas station?  -  The one who smiled and went out of her way to bless that mother  -  For all we know she had a terrible morning where her kids griped at her about putting on their shoes for school, maybe someone cut her off in traffic, maybe her boss was being unreasonable, maybe she just didn’t feel like smiling at anyone.  What we do know is that she did.  When God told her to walk up to a total stranger and bless that stranger with a kind smile and words, she had no idea the role she was playing.  She just did it because God said so.

These acts of “little” obedience show our big faith and strengthen our relationship with God.  We don’t always need to know how our part in God’s will work out.  We just need to follow and obey.  So the next time, you feel the Holy Spirit telling you to help someone reach something on a high shelf at a grocery store or smile at a homeless person or offer your snack or open your home for a playdate or invite someone for coffee…do it.

How to Make an IKEA Kura Bed Curtain

Looking for a cute, flexible, and inexpensive option for a child's bed? Look no further than the IKEA Kura.  It is a great transition bed if you are looking to move up from a converted crib or toddler bed. This bed can function as a single bed or a bunk bed.  Top it with a cute IKEA tent top and add one of of the precious, wall-mounted IKEA lights for kids, and you have a winner!

We bought our first Kura bed when our oldest was moving out of his converted crib to make way for the second born's impending arrival. It makes a really cute single bed, and at that time, the panels could switch from royal blue to white; now the panels are white on both sides.  We knew that our house was small and the bunk bed option would possibly come in handy in the future.

Fast forward six years later, and we are now the proud owner of three Kura beds with a fourth in the near future.  We moved to a larger house, and even though we don't have two kiddos per bed like we originally anticipated, we like the ability to give each child their own private space as they share rooms. When a kiddo hits six year's old, we flip the bed into a bunk bed.

In an effort to give even more privacy and pizzazz to each bed space, I created bed curtains for the two older girls for Christmas, which fit conveniently with my desire to give them something homemade by me for Christmas.  I don't have a bunch of time on my hands (who does these days?), so the bed curtains were the ideal quick project.

My time and effort were rewarded with happy girls, a fresh look in their room, and (gasp!) a room that looks cleaner. Joy all around!

STEP ONE - 
I began by taking measurements of their beds and envisioning how I wanted the curtains to function and look.  For our home, one pair of curtains on the one long side of the bed opening into the room made the most sense.  Their beds are bordered by a bookcase and walls, leaving only that side open.

That side not converted as a bunk bed measured 74.75 inches long - the perfect length for a 75" tension rod.  We chose tension rods because 1) there are not holes to drill in the bed, 2) they install quickly, and 3) they will easily shorten when the bed is converted to a bunk bed and that 74.75" opening shrinks accordingly.

That opening is 31 inches high from interior of the top wood bar to the interior of the bottom wood bar.

STEP TWO - 
Pick a fabric - one that you love, one that your child loves, and one that will work for several years, unless you like repeating a project often.

I happened upon some My Little Pony fabric that was nothing like what I had envisioned but absolutely perfect.

If you make curtains to fit one of the 74.75" by 31" openings with a bit of gathering, you will need 102" (2 yards and 30") of fabric IF your fabric bolt is 41" wide.  If you have a pattern where you need or would like to match a pattern, plan to buy more.

When you buy your fabric, buy your tension rods.

STEP THREE - 
Wash, dry, and iron your fabric.  I always use a Shout Color Catcher on the first few washes of anything new.  It catches any bleeds and allows me to wash multiple new items in one load.

STEP FOUR -
Measure, plan your cuts, write down, get your fabric scissors and other supplies together, and measure again.  In any project, always measure at least twice before cutting.  This is the sad voice of experience who mislaid a whole kitchen of 18" (17.75") tiles once.

For the pair of curtain panels, I cut three fabric pieces 34" long from my 41" wide fabric, I split one panel vertically and married a half to each of the full size panels.  I folded and ironed the seams to hide the rough edges and used a decorative flower stitch so it would give the girls something pretty to look at when they were in their beds.

Hem the bottom .5 inches by folding .25" and ironing and then folding that over again .25" to hide the rough cut edge and to only sew that side once.

Fold the top edge of the curtain .25", iron, and fold again 2.5" and iron. Check again that the pocket will fit your tension rod once seamed.  If it does, run your seam over the bottom edge, catching your fold for the full length.

STEP FIVE - 
Iron and hang your curtains.


I hope your family enjoys the curtains as much as we do!

Ballers: How to Clean Ball Pit Balls

Kids love balls.  Ball pits make great gifts. You open them, you love them, everyone has a blast, you take great pictures....


and then the magic wears off, and you decide to put the ball pit up.  When you go to grab a ball, you find that static cling has attracted all sorts of stuff - lint, debris, and things you don't want to think about. What do you do? Wipe each ball down? .... you can see your life draining away at the thought of this task.


Quick answer: Toss those bad boys into the top rack of your dishwasher as deep as you can, and set the wash cycle for light wash and a no heat dry.

When the cycle is done, either towel the balls off lightly as a group or leave your dishwasher door ajar over night.  Make sure to tell other members of your household if you go with the door ajar option. You don't want anyone injured.

Yes, use your normal dish detergent.

No, don't put balls on the bottom where the heating element is.

Store fully dried balls in labeled plastic trash bags or mostly dried balls in mesh bags.

Voila!  Clean balls.  The kids even have fun helping with this task. Use that to your advantage.

Vacuum any remaining debris out of your ball pit and wipe down with a damp cloth if necessary before storing.

This is the ball pit and the balls we received for our one year old's birthday. It was a hit for all ages at her birthday party - eight, six, five, three, and one year olds.

       

Disclaimer: This is just my personal experience. This method has not been tested in a lab or approved by Good Housekeeping.  All recommendations you try at your own risk and at the risk of the dishwasher(s) used.  I accept no responsibility or liability for any negative results.

Amazing Amazon: How to See How Much You Have Spent on Amazon.com

We love Amazon. It makes our lives so much easier. We joined officially in 2005, and, in 2008, we set up our Subscribe and Save account for diapers.

Can I tell you how easy and wonderful it is to have diapers delivered to your door monthly?  Life.Saver. Seriously.  No more dashes to the store, no more worries, no more unexpected expenses as you forgot to budget for it.

We use Subscribe and Save for more than just diapers and wipes. It is great for those routine things that you know you will need such as vitamins, air filters, toilet paper, fish food, dish detergent, rinse aid, bulk organic lollipops, and more.

We have these lollipops set for delivery every six months.

But Amazon is more than just Subscribe and Save. We use it for clothing.  Need a skirt to complete your daughter's American Heritage Girl uniform? Check! And I even ordered that while bathing our three year old!  Need a vacuum ASAP because you accidentally ripped the electrical cord out of yours? Check!  Need a really good reflective dog collar because your dog lost hers in the woods (again!)? Check!  Need some wall hanging guitar mounts, a magazine rack, something to organize your aprons, badminton birdies/shuttlecocks that are out of season, masa harina to make corn tortillas? ... You get the idea

We obviously use Amazon a lot.  We would prefer to buy local when possible, but our current phase of life with several small children is just not conducive to making lots of trips to the store.  Imagine comparing brands of a product you are new to like active charcoal and nutritional yeast while your baby becomes fussy and your three older children begin to run out of patience.  With Amazon, we can compare prices and reviews and buy with one-click.

When I heard there is a way to see how much you have spent with Amazon, I jumped right on it to see how much we have spent.  While the total number we have spent there seemed mind blowing, it broke down to about $136 per month since 2005.  When you buy a couple of cases of diapers and a case of baby wipes each month with a few other items, you reach that amount pretty quickly.

Here's how to download your report:

1. Sign in.
2. Go to "Your Account."
3. Select "Download Order Reports" under "Orders."
4. Enter a start date of January 1 for the earliest year in the drop down box.
5. Enter an end date of today's date.
6. Select "Request Report."

When your report is through generating, you can download it from the same page under "Your Reports."  The report will open in a spreadsheet. Sum column "AD" (Item Total) to see how much you have spent.  To add these numbers, click an empty cell, enter =SUM(, highlight all of the cells in column AD except the header cell of "Item Total", enter ), and press enter. That is how much you have spent.

We took it a step further and added the "List Price Per Unit" column in another cell. Then we subtracted the "Item Total" from the "List Price Per Unit."  We "saved" over $6,000 in the past 11 years, not to mention the gas, time, and stress we saved.

Shop Amazon - Give the Gift of Amazon Prime 

Paving a Path

We have been in our home for a little over two years now.  It has been an exciting time, and my parents are joining us in this exciting adventure.  Their home will be across the driveway from ours, and they will move in very soon.

With their big move looming, we decided to jump in and add some concrete to our driveway at their suggestion.  We even took it a few steps farther, adding a sidewalk to join the houses.

Concrete day was an exciting day, and, ultimately, three sidewalks were poured, two driveways, two patios, a carport, and a ramp. Whew!!  It sounds like a lot, and it was a lot.  BUT, through a lot of discussion and collaboration, we were able to create some beautiful winding sidewalks. Each front porch is now connected to its respective drive way, and the path between our homes is functional and very charming.

The kids watched the excitement all day from our back door as the existing rock and 4'x4' step were scraped away.

The kiddos enjoying the items misplaced by the concrete. On the left is one sidewalk, and there is another on the right edge.

After pouring the sidewalks, we realized that we have a long walking track that goes not only between houses but also to the shop that has been built. There is already heavy traffic as the kiddos burn up the walkway with bikes, trikes, scooters, and remote controlled cars.

Baby's First Foods

Baby V. may be our fourth born child, but she is still a baby, and we are particular with her first foods - never mind that we pull the dog toys out of her mouth on a regular basis...

Hide your dog toys from me.

What are good first foods to introduce? Bananas, applesauce, avocados, steamed and blended veggies to name a few. First baby foods are easy to make at home and easy to buy.  This is a great time to get into the kitchen and experiment with flavors, blends, and spices.  Get creative.

Baby food is also easy to buy with many varieties of organic available these days.  I like to make mine, because, in my current stage of life, it is just easier for me.   I can blend up the fresh and frozen foods we have on hand, dole out the amount she needs for the meal, and refrigerate the rest.  If I don't think she will eat a lot, I don't make a lot.  If the blend isn't to her liking, we're not stuck with five jars in the pantry.  I also don't have those dodgy jars in the fridge of unknown date.

My adventures in making baby food began with our second born when I found a Baby Bullet at a consignment sale, still in the box and unused. Score!  I wasn't familiar with the Baby Bullet when I bought it, but I quickly learned how easy it is to use. With two blade options, I keep it on hand in my pantry even when I am not making baby food because it is great for milling grains and pureeing food for other recipes.

For Christmas, I received a new generation pressure cooker, an Instant Pot . It makes cooking fun, and I am learning all sorts of new tricks, like how to cook applesauce in five minutes!

To make applesauce for Baby V., I started with four small, organic apples.

I diced the apples into chunks, placed them in the Instant Pot, and added 1/2 cup of water.

I checked the seal of the  Instant Pot lid to make sure it was in place, closed and locked the lid, set the valve to sealed, and set the time to Manual, High Pressure for 5 minutes.

When the apples were cooked, I took out the liner and let the apples cool.

Once the apples cooled sufficiently, I transferred the apples to the Baby Bullet.  I pureed the apples until smooth, adding filtered water as needed to reach the desired consistency.

I wasn't sure if leaving the apple skins on would leave the apples too chunky, but the Baby Bullet blended the apple chunks completely smooth.

Applesauce in Your Instant Pot

• 3 Medium Apples
• 1/2 cup water
• Cinnamon, optional

1. Wash, core, and dice apples. 
2. Place apples and water into Instant Pot. 
3. Press Manual, and select High Pressure. Set the time to five minutes. 
4. When the cycle is complete, remove the liner to let the apples cool. 
5. Blend the apples smooth after transferring to a Baby Bullet or blender.  You can also use an immersion blender if you have increased the recipe to a larger batch. 
6. Optional: Add cinnamon.

Some of my favorite tools:

        

All A Buzz: Our Introduction to Bees

We are all a buzz at Hall Homestead. Everyone is enamored with the idea of honeybees... well, there are a few hard sells amongst our ranks, but, overall, the buzz is positive.

When we moved to the farm in the fall of 2013, bees were high on the list.  In the fall of 2014, feeling more settled after our move, we planned to add bees AND goats for 2015.  We got a baby sister instead.

So here we are in early 2016 - with an extra child in tow- and the goal of adding bees ahead. Goats will have to wait, but we are excited to be moving forward even in small steps.

To prepare for bees, we have spoken with local beekeepers, read books, and researched supplies.  We are slated to have our first hive this April. We are soaking up all of the bee information we can while we wait.  My current favorite bee book is A Book of Bees and How to Keep Them by Sue Hubbell.

This gentle book relates Sue's vast experience with bees and the country setting in which she ran her commercial operation at the time.  It is the perfect winter read as we prepare our minds and homestead for bees.

When we order our supplies, such as a hive tool, smoker, and jackets, I will update this post with what we have ordered.







This gentle read of Sue'

Beefed Up: Beefy Ravioli Bake

Another fantastic recipe find is Beefy Ravioli Bake.  This recipe has everything you need for a quick, crowd-pleasing, weeknight meal.

1 pound ground beef, crumbled and fully cooked
1 bag frozen cheese ravioli, still frozen
1 - 1.5 jars marinara sauce
2 cups mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, mix ground beef, frozen ravioli, some of the mozzarella cheese, and enough marinara sauce to cover the mixture.  Place in a large greased casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese, and bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly/golden.  Serve warm.

IT REALLY IS THAT EASY. Serve it with garlic bread and salad, and you have a super easy weeknight meal.

Beefy Ravioli Bake is something you can always keep on hand by stocking your pantry with jarred sauce, your freezer with frozen ravioli and beef you have already cooked, and your refrigerator with cheese.

There are so many variations on this - Brown your beef with onions, add some chopped spinach to the mix, eliminate the beef to make it vegetarian (and less expensive per serving), try a different style of ravioli, or try a different type of pasta sauce. - to name a few.

Beefy Ravioli Bake is also a great meal to serve to a large crowd or to take to a friend or family who needs a meal.

If you are seeking a simple, budget friendly, hearty, quick, crowd-pleasing, keep-on-hand, and/or make-ahead meal, try this easy recipe.

I actually ate this at a party before going into labor with our second born, and it was SO GOOD.  I couldn't keep it off my mind. So much so that a few days after delivery I had to call the hostess and ask for the recipe right then and there.

Breakfast Yumminess: Sausage Rounds

I picked up this unique recipe from a friend in Dallas years ago.  I had never seen a recipe quite like it before or since.  We have used this hearty recipe for many parties, and it is always a crowd pleaser.

Sausage Rounds

1 can flaky buttermilk biscuits
2 cups grated Monterey Jack or Mexican blend cheese
1 lb sausage, cooked and drained
2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese, cooked and grated
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 325. Lightly grease muffin tins. Divide biscuit into thirds by separating the layers of the raw biscuit dough.  Place each third into a muffin cup. Mix remaining ingredients together. Place one heaping tablespoon of mixture into each muffin cup over biscuit dough.  Bake 25 minutes.

Makes 24 Sausage Rounds

My friend says that these freeze well for a quick breakfast - ours never make it as far as the freezer.   I have used reduced fat sausage many times in the recipe, and it definitely seems to keep the rounds from being quite so heavy.

      

Looking for more creative breakfast ideas?  Check out this cookbook which has been a staple in our household for the past 15 years.  The lemon ricotta pancake recipe is amazing!

Mailed It! Eliminating Pests from Your Mailbox

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No Wasps or Roaches in Your Mailbox

This spring/summer we had some unwelcome guests in our mailbox - other than bills.  A family of wasps had decided that our large mailbox was the perfect home.  We did not agree.

Going to check the mail became a bit of an action/horror movie event, filled with suspense.  Would the wasps swarm us as we reached for our junk mail? Would they fly into the open window of our trucks and terrorize the kiddos before we could get everyone out of their car seats and evacuate the car?

We developed interesting techniques for checking the mail. So interesting that if anyone saw us (good thing we live in the woods) they probably would have thought that we had lost.our.minds. Seriously.

After weeks of debate of whether or not to spray the box and then have the mail we brought into the house (and that our kiddos spread around) covered in toxic pesticides, we decided enough was enough.  I looked online for an essential oil remedy that would eliminate wasps without exposing our family to the secondary threat of nasty chemicals.

It was hard to find much information online about wasp repellent made with essential oils. I found one recipe for a kind of similar situation, but I didn't have all of the ingredients on hand.  So I improvised.  I pulled out my peppermint and lemon essential oils and invested in a $1 bag of cotton balls.  I doused each cotton ball heavily in peppermint oil and in lemon oil and tossed the cotton balls into the mailbox. I used three cotton balls.

The next time we checked the mail, the wasps had checked out of 'Hotel de Mailbox' and found a new home elsewhere.  We also had minty fresh smelling mail for a week or two.  Eventually the minty fresh smell subsided, but the wasps have stayed away all summer.  Yay!

A month or so after our success, my parents complained of roaches appearing in their mailbox.  After seeing our success, I quickly took the oils and cotton balls to their house.  My mom was concerned the mail person would think the cotton balls were a bomb (which has actually happened before, but that is another story for another day... okay, it was one of those national weather service balloons that randomly land and whoever finds it has to return it by dropping it in a mailbox).  The other concern was that they would complain about the strong odor.  Well, none of the above happened - no bomb concerns, no complaints over odor.  BUT, what did happen is that the roaches disappeared.

So, in summary, if you want to rid your mailbox or other small area of insect activity without industrial chemicals, try dousing cotton balls in peppermint and lemon essential oils. If you only have peppermint oil, try that by itself.

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No Wasps or Roaches in Your Mailbox

LEGO Heaven: Turning Seven

Our oldest is turning seven soon, and he loves Legos - who doesn't though, really?

We decided to throw a Lego themed party.  Here is how we brought the Lego theme to life:

1.  Decorate with Legos.  

Pretty basic, right?  We used MegaBlocks to spell his name and make the decor for our mantle. To ensure the "V" didn't fall apart, I secured the back of the blocks with a couple of strips of clear (Scotch) tape.  Use some wider blocks at the base for a good foundation. Our kiddos were super excited to wake up one morning and find this on the mantle.  The kids jumped in on the fun and built several other Lego names and sculptures to add around the house.  It was a fun project for the week.

We also surrounded our flatware holder in Legos to add to the theme. You can add your child's name for an extra special touch.  If you don't have a flatware holder, make one using only Legos.  Make one for each item - one for forks, one for spoons, etc.

"Le-go" of your inner master builder and run wild with fun decorating projects.

And, we used some of the chunky MegaBlocks in the open base of the cake stands. You can see those in one of the following pictures.

We happened to also have Lego mugs handy for the coffee, Lego shaped Lego containers on the book shelves, and a Lego lantern to add to the buffet.

2. Play "Pin the Head on the Lego Man."

I found this great activity online at East Coast Mommy Blog.  While I wanted my Lego man to look a bit different, the blog does offer templates if you don't want to freehand your Lego man.  For our Lego man, I used a standard piece of blue posterboard.  I drew the Lego man out with a Sharpie marker.  We painted the red using washable paint, and I made the hands from yellow construction paper - the same paper from which I made the heads.  The Lego logo was made out of cardstock and Sharpie markers.

The kids really enjoyed this game.  Even the oldest participant (8) was skeptical and felt too cool to play in the beginning asked to join before the game was over.

3. Leave out some Legos for the kids to play. 

It is a Lego party, right? I thought only the little kids would play with the MegaBlocks, but before the party was over, a crew of kids ages four to seven were building this structure together.

4. Make Lego cupcakes.

Originally, I planned to make a Lego brick cake - two standard sheet cakes layered with the end trimmed off for the block and using the extra cake to cut into circles for the top dots, icing everything in red. However, I realized that is A LOT of red icing (i.e. A LOT of red dye to be spread throughout our house and clothing by little hands), SO I decided to make cupcakes.

I used store bought cake mix and frosting for the cupcakes.  To make the Legos, I bought a multipack of fondant sheets from our local Wal-Mart (roughly $9 before tax).  I used kitchen scissors to cut the rectangles for the blocks, and I used our (washed) single hole punch to make the six dots for each "block."  To attached the dots, I put a small dot of icing between the rectangle and dot.  You can use matching icing or the same color like I did.  I also wrote the birthday boy's name on the top cupcakes using the same styling as the Lego logo.

I did notice that the fondant bricks were beautifully stiff and had that Lego look when I put them on each cupcake, but by morning, the "bricks" had taken on some moisture and settled more into each cupcake. Everyone still seemed impressed, and it was still clear that these were Legos.

5. Make a Lego pinata.

I found this idea online also at Little Family Fun.

The pinata was easy to make. I used a diaper box that had held two packs of diapers. It seemed to have the best Lego shape out of our collection of diaper boxes.  I filled it with a large, mixed bag of Halloween candy (Nerds, SweetTarts, Bottlecaps), a 484 count box of Classic Legos, and a large tub of soft peppermints (Bob's brand).  The filling cost about $50 ($30 for the Legos, $10 for the mixed candy, $5.88 for the peppermints, and tax).  I used masking tape to secure the box, and American Greetings brand wrapping paper from Wal-Mart to wrap the box.

Definitely follow the suggestion at Little Family Fun of using styrofoam cup tops and card stock for the dots.  I used the wrapping paper and multiple foam stickers, which did not make for a completely "finished" look although it got the job done.  The inside ring of the masking tape roll was the perfect size and template for the dots.

To figure out which kiddo got a crack at it first, we took inspiration from Little Family Fun.  I cut construction paper into rectangles, drew on the dots, and wrote a number on the back of each card with a marker (Be sure to draw a line under the "6" and "9" to prevent confusion.). We mixed the numbers up and handed a Lego "brick" to each kiddo who wanted to take a swing at the pinata.

Each child was given a goody bag for when the pinata broke.  This activity was both a game and a way to pass out favors all in one.  We wrote each child's name on their number card to go into their goody bag to eliminate any confusion about the owner of each goody bag.

It was very hard to bust the pinata open.  A cardboard box is thicker than a traditional pinata. On the plus side, everyone got a turn to swing at pinata both in the traditional blindfolded way and the free-for-all-swing-a-thon that occurred after.

We also found that we should have purchased an eye mask for the blindfold since we had two games involving blindfolds at our party, and blindfolding each child with a scarf is time consuming and difficult.



So, I may have taken the idea of "a simple Lego party" at home farther than I planned, but everyone (especially the eight and under crowd) seemed to have a lot of fun.  Our kiddos had a great time building and making decorations for the party the whole week beforehand.

To see even better ideas, check out Buzzfeed's excellent list here:  How to Throw the Ulitmate Lego Birthday Party

        

Eggs-cellent

When we first moved back home, we thought it would be neat to get some chickens.  We had considered having chickens in our backyard in Dallas after taking the annual "A Peep at the Coops" tour in our area, but the idea didn't gain much ground.  Neither of us had owned chickens before, and the project seemed daunting.

As soon as we knew we were moving back to Louisiana, we started researching small, mobile coops, thinking it would be nice for the kids to experience.  However, the chicken excitement took hold of all of us- okay, maybe not my dad.  Within a month of moving back, we had chickens.  So much for waiting.    Luckily, my mother had some experience with chickens and relished the idea of them living in a section of her super large garden.  We all had a blast watching our four Buff Orpington ladies peck around, eat chicken scraps, and just live life.  We all bought chicken boots, and the kids had a real life petting zoo in the backyard.  We soon realized taking care of four chickens is about the same as taking care of many, many more.  Our operation began to grow and become "an operation."

Here's what we've learned so far and the answers to some frequently asked questions:

• Just like dogs, there are breeds of chickens, each with their own distinct characteristics.  Check out MyPetChicken for the full scoop. 
• You do NOT need a rooster in order for your hens to lay eggs.
• Chickens lay a maximum of ONE egg per day, but some days, they do not lay any.  Different breeds lay at different frequencies.
• Chickens CAN eat scraps.  Here is my "go-to" website for a list of acceptable scraps.  Note: One time I fed our ladies a LOT of leftover baked fish, and the scrambled eggs soon after tasted fishy to me although no one else noticed.
• Chicken sleep on roosting bars in the coops, not in the nesting boxes, usually.  
• Unwashed eggs can sit on your counter for about a month, safely.  Once an egg is washed, it's "bloom" is removed, and you should refrigerate it.  Above is a picture of our unwashed eggs on display.  There is something satisfying about seeing your freshly collected eggs on the counter.
• We wash our eggs in warm water, dry them well, and then refrigerate the eggs.
• If you do get a rooster, you will not necessarily have chicks.  We let one of our hens sit on her eggs for a month, with no results.  Online research found that today's chickens aren't exactly in touch with the way to properly sit on the eggs, thus the need for an incubator.
• We have bought chicks before, but the wait for eggs to arrive is very, very long...and chicks can be very, very messy.  Knowing these things does not necessarily keep us from buying chicks - they are super cute.  Know that many states require that you buy a minimum number of chicks. In Louisiana and Arkansas, that number is six.  Why? To curtail buying chicks at Easter as pets, pets that would probably have a very short life.  Also, chicks like to huddle, sharing their body heat to ensure a better chance of survival. When I was a kid, you could buy dyed chicks on the side of the road around Easter.  Seemed neat at the time, but, as an adult, I see the many concerns with that practice.

There are many, many books on keeping Backyard Chickens.  You only have to do a quick search on Amazon.com for Backyard Chickens to see the many options available.

Before you know it, you may chicken out just like us.

Going Bananas (One Family's Fascination with Their Yonanas Maker)

A couple of years ago, we went bananas.  My parents gave us a Yonanas maker for Christmas.  I had seen these advertised, with their promise of "healthy" and "easily homemade" frozen treats...but I balked at the $50 priced.  I tried emulating the results using a relatively new blender - let's just say that didn't go well and that I am thankful my husband could fix it.  I tried seeking it out on my local Freecycle group - no luck there.  So, with a big sigh, I shelved my hopes for another day.

THEN, Christmas came, with family members asking for ideas.  Guess what made the list? A Yonanas maker.  At $50, I couldn't justify buying something we may or may not use, but it seemed to be the perfect Christmas item.

Christmas Eve, we unwrapped a brand new Yonanas.  We, of course, wanted to try it out immediately, but we didn't have any frozen fruit on hand, and the grocery stores would be closed Christmas Day (which is a good thing).  BUT, we still couldn't use our gift.  December 26th found us in the frozen section of the grocery store, plundering all the frozen fruit.  We also raided the banana aisle, but that was more disappointing since the bananas were mostly green.  The instructions are clear: You MUST freeze bananas that are so ripe that they already have "cheetah spots."  Bummer!  We pressed on nonetheless, processing our selection of frozen fruit, judging which we liked best and which didn't make the cut.  All the while, we watched our bananas like hawks waiting for the "cheetah spots" to appear.  When the bananas were finally ripe enough, we peeled all qualified candidates and gleefully tossed them into a Ziploc bag in the freezer.  And then we waited, again. (!)  The bananas must freeze 24 hours before you can use them.  And, then, they must thaw for about 10 minutes before you run them through the machine.

I make this sound like the process was difficult and long, but, really, it wasn't at all.  We were just antsy.

Now, I buy bananas by the bunches and toss the overripe bananas in a predetermined "banana bag" in the freezer as their time comes up. By "banana bag," know that I mean a gallon Ziploc bag with "Bananas" scribbled on it in Sharpie marker, a bag which is frequently emptied and refilled.

When it's time for a family treat, we pull out our Yonanas, let our bananas begin thawing/softening, and crank up the machine for some fun.

This has been especially great for our family as we have tried various exclusion diets this year in an effort to pin point some problematic allergens.  Yonanas are gluten/wheat free, dairy free, nut free, egg free, and soy free.  They are tasty and fun.  We like to customize ours with marshmallows, nuts, chocolate chips and more.  We also like to blend in Oreos for a Cookies N' Cream blend - a favorite of the hubs.

Deer Me!!: Deer Bacon Burger Meatballs

Pregnancy craving: Meatballs
Solution: Look to the freezer full of deer bacon burger mix

This was my first attempt, and I used a stand by meatball recipe with minor adjustments.

2 lbs Deer Bacon Burger Mix
1 cup Parmesan Romano Cheese Blend
1 cup Plain Bread Crumbs
2 Large Eggs
1 tbsp Olive Oil, or oil you have on hand. I used a mix with grapeseed.
1 tbsp Italian Seasoning
2 tsp Minced Garlic

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Thaw meat. Mix dry ingredients - cheese, bread crumbs, Italian Seasoning.  Add wet ingredients to dry mixture.  Mix together well by hand.  Form into tablespoon sized balls.  Cook for 12 minutes or until meat is cooked through.  Optional: Simmer cooked meatballs in marinara sauce before serving.  Serve over pasta, subs, or some other fun way.

Makes approximately 60 meatballs.


So my least favorite part of meatballs and meatloaf are the messy hands after mixing.  That is the moment when I really appreciate my Delta Touch faucet.  It was a splurge early in the building process before the budget started to crunch.  The Delta Touch faucets don't always work. Our plumber installed three, and ours was the only one that worked out of that initial batch.  I understand Delta is great about replacing the non-working units, and, more than likely, they probably have many of those kinks worked out now.  Ours has been installed for about a year and a half, with no problems.  The best part is watching our friends and family figure out how to work it.  When we had our reunion last summer, our whole group snickered while watching the last person to arrive trying to operate it.

See all of the Delta Touch Faucet options on Amazon: delta touch faucet

Mama Said Knock You Out: Pinata Party for Gender Reveal

At the end of last year, we found out that our family is growing again. Our newest addition is due in August!  We were all thrilled!!

So, after you find out you are expecting, then comes the big decision of whether or not to find out the baby's gender.  Finding out the gender before birth is still a relatively new idea, but most couples choose to do so.  And, lately, everyone is getting more and more creative than just letting the ultrasound technician share the information.

We chose not to find out the gender with our first two kiddos. We were surprised with a boy, and then we were surprised with a girl.  Our little guy wanted a brother so badly last time that we decided to find out the gender before delivery.  When he bit into the cupcake and found it was filled with pink icing, he proudly said "I'm going to have another sister!"  Maybe the sugar rush helped break the news.  Either way, he is an outstanding big brother and has been enamored with his littlest sister since her birth.

So, what to do this time??  Find out? Not find out?  From the beginning of the pregnancy, I was confident this baby was a boy.  No morning sickness just like with our son.  With the girls, I was nauseous a lot.  Since I was so confident, my mom encouraged me to find out just in case I was wrong, so we decided to find out.

How to find out?  Since it just isn't en vogue to have the ultrasound technician/doctor/midwife tell you anymore, we tried to think of an option with pizzazz that would fit our family.  Our sweet boy suggested cupcakes again or a pinata.  Pinata!  What a great idea!

We bought our pinata at Wal-Mart, picked up a few bags of Easter candy, pink and blue glow-in-the-dark bracelets, and "It's a Boy!/It's a Girl!" ribbon.  I sorted the candy into pink and blue bags and added the appropriate bits of ribbon and unopened glow bracelets.  Since the candy pieces were still a bit multicolored, we didn't want any confusion about the gender when the pinata was burst.  I had heard a story about a volcano used to reveal the gender and how the pink lava came out red, leaving the siblings confused as to whether they were getting a brother or sister.

During our ultrasound, we were careful to tell the ultrasound technician that we did not want to know the gender.  She placed the revealing pictures in a sealed envelope, which we took to the person stuffing our pinata.  Stuffing the pre-made pinata was pretty easy and we were able to wait while it was filled.  We asked the stuffer to keep the unused bag of candy/ribbon/light up bracelets.

That night we gathered our parents, munched on some Mexican food for dinner, and then let each of our kiddos take a swing at the pinata, from youngest to oldest.  We took lots of pictures and videos, and everyone had a great time.

In review, the steps for a gender reveal pinata party:

1. Buy your supplies - pinata, candy, small pink/blue toys, and pink and blue ribbon. Don't feel the need to over do it on the candy.  You just need enough that everyone gets some and knows what the gender is. Pinata options on Amazon: pinata
2. Separate your supplies into two distinctive bags to give your designated pinata stuffer.
3. At your ultrasound appointment, ask the technician to keep the good hidden and to place any revealing pictures in the envelope.  This means you will need to look away from the screen during some parts of the ultrasound.  Remind any medical professional you see during your appointment that you do not want to know the gender.  We had lots of practice with this prior to the delivery of our first two kiddos.
4. Take the pinata, two bags, and sealed envelope to your designated stuffer.  He/she may need some tape to seal the pinata.  Ours just happened to have gold duct tape - sweet!  Prior to stuffing, ask the stuffer to keep the unused bag out of sight.  Also, give him/her any instructions about items in the bags.  For us, we needed to specify what to do with those little connector pieces that go on the glow-in-the-dark bracelets.
5. Take your pinata and re-sealed envelope home, and don't peek!  
6. Plan a Mexican themed meal.  We had chicken enchiladas, salad, and strawberries with whipped cream over Angel food desert cups.
7. Find a place to hang your pinata.  We had the two grandfathers hold a piece of conduit pipe from each end.  We also used a piece of twine to get the pinata to the right length and give it a bit of swing.
8. One at a time, blindfold participants, spin them around three times, give them a a bat - we used a plastic Little Tikes bat, and let them swing three times each.  We went youngest to oldest and let our oldest finish it out. He was super duper excited to bust that pinata.
9. See what you have and celebrate a new life!!

And did you want to know what OUR pinata revealed??

So much for my morning sickness theory!!  Maybe, for me, it has more to do with the time of year I experience my first trimester.  With our firstborn and this one, both of the first trimesters were around November/December/January.  With the girls, it was more June/July/August, which are hot, hot, hot months where we live.

He's a great big brother, and he found out about his third little sister with candy - that never hurts.  :)


Find gender reveal party supplies on Amazon.com: gender party