A Tip for Your Freezer … and Chicken Soup

Well, … now everyone is trying to save on the food budget and stretch the dollars a little farther. So now I just appear normal, and my budget friendly habits seem timely. Whereas before, I believe the word “cooky” might have been slung in my direction.

Here’s a tip for your freezer. If you eat vegetables at your house, you probably don’t always finish the dish. For plain vegetables (served with butter and salt – or alone) toss the extras in a gallon sized freezer bag in the freezer door. Every time you have some leftovers of this nature, toss them in the bag. It doesn’t matter if they’re different. You’re making a collection of veggies. When the bag gets to capacity – you’re ready to make vegetable or chicken soup.

If you choose Chicken Soup, here’s another money saver. Use inexpensive thighs or legs to make your broth and provide the meat for the soup. These pieces are less popular, but they make a much richer base for your soup; no one can really tell what part of the chicken little shreds of meat came from in the bowl anyway. As a bonus, you can usually get those cuts of meat for MUCH less than cut up birds or chicken breasts.

Happy cooking!!!

Science Now

This week’s science lessons have included several spontaneous wildlife sessions.  Here are photos of a few.

The Black Capped Chickadee

Young Mantis

A Young Mantis, I believe Sam called it a Purple Mantis, but I didn’t get close enough to tell and it is rather small.

The adult Parsley Worm, which if all goes as intended will become a Black Swallowtail Butterfly.

Those of you who know me will be glad to learn that I didn’t kill the “yucky” spider.

Here the children observe the Parsley Worm infestation and wonder if there’s enough parsley to feed that many caterpillars.

This is the Black Snake that joined me for my afternoon coffee. I’ll be finding a new spot.

It’s hard to believe that all this happened in just four days this week. Thanks to Mark’s gift of a GREAT camera last winter, we got some wonderful material for the science notebooks.

He has a sense of humor.

WILSON: “You know, McKenna said she went to Hawaii for vacation.”

MOM: “That’s a long way for a five year old to go for vacation. That was a real treat.”

WILSON: “So, how far is it to Hawaii anyway.”

MOM: “Gosh, it’s a least a day and a half by air from here. First you have to fly to Los Angeles in California; then you have to fly half way across the Pacific Ocean to a small group of islands… and hope the pilot doesn’t miss (sploosh).

MARK: (Muttered from the other room quietly…”Way to go … scare him to death.”)

WILSON: “That would not be good.” (pauses… gives a thoughtful look, followed by a sly grin) “Get out your snorkeling gear.” (insert evil chuckle here) “ha ha ha …”

An Update …

Good News!  School did start on the 11th, despite my best attempts to sabotage my own efforts.  We started with a “skeleton crew” and have been steadily adding a little bit more each day.  This week we have added Language Arts (Grammar) to the Literature we already had underway; and we added Latin.  For those of you who know me, this last one will be slightly amusing.  Other than English, the only other foreign language I speak is a little know mountain dialect of le francais known affectionately as “Henry French”.  I can read it, maybe even understand the basics, but let’s just hope I don’t get lost in Paris.

Mark did turn 43 on the 3rd, followed closely by Alex turning 30 on the 7th.  We hosted Piper’s third birthday this past weekend and had a blast.  Although I know her parents are proud of her extensive exposure to different cultures (She’s been farther from home than I have.), I believe I successfully converted her this weekend.  After several rounds of Carolina Girls by the Chairman of the Board, Piper is now a Carolina Girl (not to be confused with a fan of UNC – don’t want to get kicked out of the house).  After discovering this fascinating fact, she then wanted to know if Grandma, and Sophie, and Claire, and Mommy were Carolina Girls too.  Obviously, it goes without saying…. Aunt Chloe is a Carolina Girl!

Dancing Carolina Girls

Dancing Carolina Girls

Shocking Song Lyrics

I had quite a surprise today.  Let me set the scene for you. Wilson and I were talking in the kitchen and working on lunch while the iPod was “shuffling” in the background.  Imagine my surprise….

STING: “A hundred million bottles [pause] washed up on the shore.” ……

WILSON: “That’s a lot of bottoms.”

MOM: “What did you say?”

STING: “Message in a bottle…..”

WILSON: “That’s gross.” [said as he stands with his ear to the iPod radio]

MOM: “What?”

STING: “Message in a bottle…..”

WILSON: “Oh, he’s saying bottle. I was wondering why he was singing about messages and bottoms.” [said completely seriously as he exits stage left]

 

Birthday Boy

Well, I’m a little late.  Finally I’m posting the pictures of Wilson’s 7th birthday.  He had a great day and really enjoyed having Uncle Alex and his family visiting over the weekend.  Grandma and Grandpa arrived on the weekend and stayed until the afternoon on the 16th; Grandma even got up early to eat birthday “Ice Cream” cake with the rest of us.

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Give a Cheer

Happy Birthday, Claire…..

Although today is actually Wilson’s 7th birthday, I’m just getting the pictures from Claire’s first birthday posted.  So I guess I’ll have to post the photos of Wilson tomorrow.  Wilson spent the the morning today at LaCrosse Camp, the afternoon opening a “tub of fun” from his grandparents, and the rest of the afternoon playing golf at the Winthrop golf course with his dad.  Mark took the day off today and Wilson has thoroughly enjoyed that special present.

    Claire spent her special day with almost all her family.  Her great grandmother, one set of grandparents and an Aunt/Uncle/Cousin/Cousin crew all joined us for the festivities.  Claire had a “Polka Dot” party and knew exactly what to do with the birthday cake.  Here are a few photos.

      Piggie GirlCakeBedtime

      Camp Weeks

      The last two weeks have been FULL of fun camp activities:  one week of half-day soccer camp, followed by a week of full-day Pony Camp for Sophie and half-day LaCrosse Camp for Wilson.  Sam took a week off and spent the mornings at home with Claire and Mom.  He did get a special outing on Wednesday with his good friend, Zach.

      Crazy Hair Day

        Crazy Hair Day at Soccer Camp

      Sam Takes Aim

        Sam takes aim at the goal in a drill with Hannah.

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        Wilson and his orange socks.

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        Sophie runs back to the tent.

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        Wilson enjoying LaCrosse camp at the YMCA.

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        Sophie turns her horse, Tigger, around the barrel in the corral at Friday’s horse show.

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        Claire enjoyed her first trip to a farm, and really enjoyed seeing Sophie on the pony.

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        We ended Friday with an “Island Party” for Sophie and several of her friends.

      Can You Hear Me Now?

      I doubt it.  Although I have DSL internet connection at this cabin, email only comes in …. it doesn’t go out.  Phone service is apparently better with Verizon than Cingular.  Mark doesn’t have phone service until he’s 40 minutes closer to civilization.  Which, oddly enough, would make this a perfect vacation destination for Mark.  The only problem?  Mark’s working during the days, and we’re on our own. So far we’ve done okay.  Here are some pictures to prove we have indoor plumbing, food preparation facilities and a sense of adventure.

        Walking to Natural Bridge, Picket State Park, TN Walking to Natural Bridge, Picket State Park, TN 

      The CabinMarshmallow Pit  The Marshmallow Pit

        Hazard Cave, Picket ST Park, TNHazard Cave, Picket State Park, TN

      In theory, we will be back among you sometime Saturday.  Have a wonderful week!

      I learned something yesterday…

      We are planting an herb garden this year.  In addition to being tired of paying ridiculous prices for fresh herbs, I thought the kids would enjoy doing this.  We started our project yesterday and will wrap it up today.  If all goes well, I’ll even have some pictures.  “But what did she learn?” you may be asking yourself.  I learned that corriander comes from a well know herb.  Two years ago I asked my mom what I could substitute for corriander because I didn’t have any.  Neither of us really knew from where is was derived.  NEWS FLASH:  corriander is collected as the seed of the Cilantro herb.  Who knew?