Nesting in full force

I think I am officially nesting.  My husband is going to love this (and i’m being sarcastic).  Nesting to me, is not only cleaning the odd things that never get cleaned, but rearranging rooms.  my living room and dining room got it today.

Originally when we moved in, I didn’t want the living room in the first room you walked into, because it also has the doors to the bedrooms.  My husband watches a lot of TV and I didn’t want the kids bothered by the sound of it while trying to sleep, so in the next room over (which doesn’t really have a separator, but it has two narrow walls on either end to distinguish the rooms) we have the couch, chaise and TV.  The dinner table was in the living room area, so things were kind of backwards.  But today I decided the chaise should move to where the dinner table was, the couch should be moved down to take up the spce the chaise had, and the dinner table would fit fine against the far wall now that the couch was moved down.  My reasoning is #1, I wont’ need to make a bunch of trips all the way across the house for meals to feed kids, bring their drinks, etc, etc.  #2, I won’t have to walk in front of the TV multiple times to complete said trips (and I’ll use this one to reason with my husband… LOL), and #3 with the dinner table so close to the kitchen, I can get them occupied at the table with crafts, play doh, or blocks or any sitting activity and have more time available to do dishes, cook, and do other stuff in the kitchen because I’ll be able to see my kids right at the table.

My son is at that age where he has to see EVERYTHING (whether it’s been opened or not), so if he’s curious about something that looks good he’ll look at it, sample it, and sometimes spill it…  He needs a constant watchful eye, so for a while there house chores were put on somewhat of a hold so I could be where he was…  But keeping them occupied at the table can only mean good things.

I’m preparing to render tallow to make my first batch of soap.  My small deep freezer is about stuffed with beef fat so it’s high time I do something about that (a butcher has been saving me all of his beef fat scraps for the past few months). I should have enough lavendar to make my own oil, and I have everything else to make a nice bar of soap.  I’m making a bunch of pies to freeze with the intention of giving them away.  I have this wonderful knack of making a truley delicious pie, but it’s one of the ugliest you’ll ever see…. I haven’t quite gotten the hang of crimping the edges and making the pies look beautiful, but in time, I’m sure… Each pie does get a bit better and better.  instead of making the edges all pretty, I just make a cute design on the top of the pie for the vents, instead of slits I’ll do a smily face, or a sun, or whatever comes to mind.

I picked what look like will be the last of the big tomatoes this season, though the cherry tomatoes are still producing like crazy.  All of my seeds are a-sprouting, I will need to get a fan upstairs to turn on for a few hours a day to mimic the wind, and make sure the seedlings are getting enough sun where I put them.  I’ve been contemplating switching rooms with the kids – putting my office in the play room and vice versa.  This could just be a nesting thing so I’m going to try to wait until after the baby is born before deciding if I actually want to do that or not.  But their playroom gets so much more sun and it’s much brighter during the day.  The room is a bit smaller, and the A/C unit doesn’t fit in that window, and I’m not quite sure how I’d fit the computer desk AND the full size dinner table that I use as a craft and homeschooling table (I tried with the measuring tape when we first decided to move in here, and never did find a way to make them both fit without making the room feel akward.)  All things to consider…

I am beginning to use coupons!

For the longest time, coupons and I didn’t get along well.  My husband and I had a paper route and each Sunday would come and go with me looking through the ads and trying to match sales up with coupons we might use (and on average, I’d find 3 from the paper inserts we might use).  It wasn’t worth my time.  We bought in bulk, I cooked from scratch, I gardened, anything else we bought was rarely an item found in a coupon.

As I look around more though, I’m noticing maybe I could do better.  The things we buy in bulk (toilet paper, toothpaste, sugar, flour, etc.) I seem to be able to easily find sales and coupons making these items virtually free.  Virtually free beats any bulk deal any day of the week, right?  I’ve always been so caught up in knowing that the price we pay for an item in bulk is better than we would at a regular grocery store (well thought out, mind you – not every bulk deal is really a deal!), I’ve never thought about purchasing smaller quantities at better pricing.

Then as I look further, I’m finding really good deals on sweet treats my husband and I like to treat our family to once in a while.  Even some coupons for fresh meat and vegetables.  Things are looking up in the coupon world, so when I go shopping next month i am going to begin using coupons.  And a price book, to log the best deals on food we buy most often.

Another binder is being put together and I’m on a coupon hunt right now online.  I’m bookmarking the stores we shop at, and signing up for their free coupon offers.  I’m noticing some store sites have online-only coupons that you won’t find in the Sunday inserts.  I’m finding out when double coupon days are at the stores I might shop at, and next month i am going to try to get more bang for my buck.  My husband has landed a new job (praise God!  Let’s see how it goes!) which will require more ready made food for him.  I’ll be cooking as many meals as I can, but they only last a few days and he may be gone up to a week or longer.  So he’ll need some easy meals that will keep for the end of the week, and even though I’m dissapointed he’ll have to eat that kind of food I’m thankful that most of it should be affordable with coupons. 

I’m also seeing that a lot of items we might not normally buy, come out free with coupons and sales.  this could mean a treat for us, or something we pick up and donate to someone in need.  I remember a family on my paper route years ago asked me for the extra Sunday inserts.  in exchange, she supplied me (each week, a big surprise and a HUGE blessing at the time) with as many non-perishable personal care and food items as she could stuff in her mailbox.  So even if we don’t use it, I know someone else will be able to and if I happen to notice it and have a coupon, I will certainly pick it up.

Anyway, I’m also going to big coupon sites (www.hotcouponworld.com and www.afullcup.com have been most highly suggested) to find coupons also.

I don’t know how long this will take me – at the start probably a few hours a week until i get the hang of it.  How much I’m able to save will determine if the time is worth it.

I’m noticing coupons will also go over into non-food items – toys, clothing, personal care and other aspects of life.

Do you have any coupon tips to share?  other coupon sites?

Indoor veggies have been planted

Today I got my winter garden planted - which will be housed in my office through the winter.  I have: spinach, tomatoes, green peppers, banana peppers, acorn squash, butternut squash, cucumbers, green beans, peas, carrots, leeks and celery.  Some of these will need to be hand pollinated.  I am laying a waterproof mat under my small greenhouse to catch water drips, and plan to let the squash climb my windows and the greenhouse its self.  The carrots and tomatoes will eventually move to a container on the floor near the window when they get big enough.  Now the only thing left to do is fix the zipper on my greenhouse cover as it is broken.  Then we’ll be all set

My latest research here on the homestead is on raising milk goats and my husband has shown interest in raising one or two at a time for meat.  I’m pretty sure they’re probably against city ordinances but it’s fun to learn.  And who knows – if I talk to my neighbors and they’re favorable, a little milk and eggs (from chickens, of course) go a long way to keep them from complaining…  I’ll let you know what I come up with.

A use skins and cores from apples

I taught my oldest daughter how to slice apples today because she wanted to help me can applesauce.  As I finished a half bushel of apples, and prepared to cook the slices until soft in applejuice instead of water, my husband suggested we try juicing the skins and cores that were awaiting the compost pile, and add that juice to the stock pot.  What a cool idea!  I could re-use my kitchen waste, and then the pulp would end up in the compost pile.  I know that I can use the pulp for additional meals but I’m not too sure how pulp from just skins and cores would be.  Well, I guess all I could do is try, right?  There was still quite a bit of flesh left on the cores.

So we did that and the juice is added to the apples that are on the stove.  And I may just have to save the pulp and use it in muffins or something and just see how that works out.  How cool would it be to be able to use everything and have zero waste?

Canning more applesauce!

We went to that small family orchard near where we used to live again and brought home 3 bushels of apples.  We bought one bushel specifically for canning slices and pie filling, and the lady there offered me other bushels of a type of apple I can’t remember the name of, but she wanted to get rid of them for $2/bushel and she said they make great applesauce but aren’t good for baking or canning in slices.  Sold!  Tonight I’m slowly working through one bushel of those apples (roughly one bushel has yeilded 10 quarts of applesauce tonight) as I also finish the October issue of From Scratch which should go out tomorrow. By the way, you can download a free copy of the newsletter at that link, or e-mail me and I’ll e-mail it to you.

I was blessed today by someone who just had a baby shower and had too many things – a bunch of baby boy clothes, pacifiers, and a bottle of shampoo were giften to me today.  We really think our next baby is another boy, so the clothes will be put to good use.   I was also given a ton of pants (jeans and dress pants) and cute shirts for after the baby is born.  Everything is in my size!  I am the type who has a handful of T-shirts, a nice shirt or two, a couple skirts and a pair of pants or two… Now I have a handful of nice shirts, a bunch of nice/casual shirts and way more jeans than I could ever need at once.  But I use them hard – every pair ends up with a hole in the knees within a few months so it’ll be nice to have a decent supply for a while. LOL. 

Today was shopping day at Sam’s club and tomorrow it’ll be regular groceries and picking up water.  I brought in the rest of my soil yesterday to warm up, and will be starting some more seeds in the next day or two for my winter garden.  I’m a bit late getting these planted, but it’s better late than never.

I am beginning to save the non-glossy bits of junk mail we recieve and will be using them for mulch next year.  We don’t have a paper shredder so I’ll likely put the kids to work tearing the paper into strips!  They’ll love it.

It’s also time to begin making homemade holiday gifts.  I have a lot of things I want to sew this year, so I want to be sure to set aside plenty of time for that.  Once my main canning season comes to an end I’ll be in a much better position time-wise to tackle sewing in the evenings.

Well that’s about all from my neck of the woods, I’ll let you know what I’m planting when i get around to deciding!