Thursday, October 16

[Cheryl]

Good morning!

[Cheryl]

I am slowly getting started on my day.  I've fed the animals, made breakfast for Emily, had my coffee, and did a little bit of reading. 

It's a little chilly outside right now, but it's supposed to warm up this afternoon and by tomorrow we will be back in the 80's.  Fall will get here soon, I suppose.

Let's see - today I need to wash sheets, cut up some jalapenos and can them, do school with Emily, run to the library to return some books and movie, and some general housecleaning.  Nothing too exciting, but that's the way I like it.

Have a great day!

[MissMandy]

Good Morning!

Cheryl: That's the way I like it, too!  Enjoy your day

It's been a while since I've posted on the daily.  I've been reading and trying to keep up with all of your wonderful lives, though!

Today got off to an unusual start, but the rest of the day doesn't hold too much excitement.  Jean and one of the groups he plays with are headed to Atlanta to play a private corporate gig tonight, so two of the other guys in the group stayed over last night and they all got an early start this morning.  Since I was already up and dressed when they left (didn't want to just stay in jammies since we had house guests!) I stayed up, had my coffee and breakfast, and settled down to some NSA work.

Since we were having guests over the house is in pretty good shape, but left on the agenda today is:

   *Laundry (one load of towels are already in, then I need to strip the two guest beds and wash those sheets)
   *Quick swipe over the floors.  We've had MAJOR rain lately, so there's no 'cleaning' of the floors yet, just basic de-grossing
   *Quick swipe over both bathrooms
 
Not sure what's for dinner tonight since it's just me.  I have some meat thawed, but I could also go for some Thai food (shocker ).

Have a wonderful day ladies!

Mandy

[shedrinkzcoffee]

Good morning, ladies.

I am having my coffee and Trevor is up and doing his math.  He has been an early riser lately.  I have the dishwasher going since I forgot to turn it on last night before bed.  Still kind of tired.  A smoke alarm had a battery go bad and start chirping at 4am.  Had to figure out which one it was and then I was awake for a while after that.

Not much happening here until the afternoon when we leave for the gym.  I have some yard work to do and the boys are going to go help the neighbor do a little yard work this morning.  Bathrooms need cleaned and I need to vacuum the house and wipe down the kitchen counters.  Exciting stuff, huh.   

Dinner tonight was supposed to be chicken enchilada soup but but we have had soups a few days this past week so I am going to change it up.  Maybe orange chicken. 

Have a great day!

[wrancher]

Good morning Cheryl and all

Windy day here after yesterday's beautiful day. Still nice out though not complaining! Today is calf chores then put some parts on tractor so I can haul hay hopefully. I brought home 1 of the tractors that had been worked on but it really isn't that useful of a tractor. Megan left me off on her way back to college. I had her take me to grocery store I picked up some frozen pizzas, got in my tractor and drove it home.  Threw pizza in oven for Ross and a friend we had visiting. Left for cross country meet that Allison got 7th in elementary and 16th overall. She was running against junior high.  Lots of job security here with house and outside and too many interruptions.  Neighbor stopped for coffee then we went dud chores and I hadn't posted

Coffee time if I'm lucky
Janice

[Rooney]

Morning everyone.

Didn't get a chance to post yesterday.  We had appointments in the afternoon and into the evening.  First was a dental visit to get Alex's cavity filled.  Were supposed to have his sealants put on also, but they tried to tell us they needed to reschedule and I missed the call.  I decided to have his sealants done along with Zach's, but only because he was the only one with a cavity.  If anyone else shows up with a cavity in the future, I may have to think it over again.  Then we came home, I fixed everyone supper, and we loaded up again and took Zach to the chiro.  While we were there, it was just after dark, and Jake spotted some baby raccoons.  They were just running around the parking lot.  Made me think of when I was little and my parents had an indoor "pet" raccoon.  Yeah, they are REALLY animal people.  Little much for me.  Anyway, then we had some errands to run in the next city over.  Got home kinda late.  So, that dinner I thought I fixed for the kids before we left, was evidently just a warm-up for their real dinner.  That is where the pancakes I froze the other day come in.

So for today, the kids are eating an early lunch and we are going to finish school up.  I have some laundry to run (surprise!).  It is about to swallow me with the other washer out of commission.  I really don't know how my grandmother did it years ago, with just a washboard.  They are supposed to look at it Wed. afternoon and then look at my other oven on Thurs. afternoon.  They are all under warranty, thank goodness.  Other than that, back to grocery planning for next month.  I am bent on doing better with it, but it is taking quite a bit of planning.  I almost have a price book completed of all the items we ever buy, their costs and where they are bought.  It's a start!

Mandy, I am adding de-grossing to my vocabulary. Love it! I bet it gets used frequently, especially when referring to the boys bathroom.

Erica, don't you hate it when those batteries do that? And the funny thing is, they seem to only do it when you are trying to sleep.

Have a good day all,
Lindsay

[wrancher]

Lindsay- It is also hard for me to plan a menu in advance. I kinda do what they call pantry menu. I can make meals from my pantry really quick. I also do like you and make extras when I can of say 2 casseroles eat 1 and freeze the other. Very handy for when you dont have anything quick. My quick meals are spaghetti ( I used jar or can sauce), stroganoff ( boil noodles add cream of mushroom soup and sour cream and a jar of canned beef), quesadilla, grilled cheese and tomato soup, hot tuna sandwiches (i put all my bread down on sheet pan 11x14, add the tuna stuff then bread just like sandwich and cover with foil and put in oven feeds all of usand sometimes extras. comes out toasted on both sides , soups in corockpots. tacos. I can alot! I have soups canned and just reheat or add something to them. Lots of meats canned beef and chicken. I just buy alot of extras of things we like like a case of apples, stuff on sale of fresh stuff. This is kinda how menu planning takes shape as it might be something that needs used up right away. So instead of making a calendar I just kinda make a list of meals we like with the foods we have available and wing it.  Sometimes I have more people to feed, sometimes way less. I cook most everything from scratch but I still need some back ups like frozen pizzas, burritos (havent had time to make extras), chicken patties or something like that (ross hates chicken so we eat it when he is gone).  I would love to have your greenhouse. Very jealous. I want to make something small scale in my garage this winter and try it. I would love to do the fish thing too.

Janice

[Rooney]

Janice, I think the pantry menu is what I have been doing all along, just not efficiently.  I buy what we make our "usual" meals from and stock the pantry with that.   I really like this better than the idea of being held to a menu plan all month.  Seems like it would be hard to do around here, I may try it next month and see, but with all the daily differences and disruptions, I don't know.  I am always amazed at all of the things you can.  Wish I could get enough time in the kitchen to do that as well.  I HAVE to start making more of the expensive things from scratch though. Going to try to enlist some help from the older kiddos. Thanks for the idea of the oven tuna sandwiches.  We don't like tuna, but I am going to try it with some canned chicken.  Ummm....are there other ingredients that go into the canned meat or is it just plain?  I would eat it plain, but I don't think the kids would.

I would love to have your greenhouse. Very jealous. I want to make something small scale in my garage this winter and try it. I would love to do the fish thing too.

Janice

We did some indoor growing of lettuce and salad stuff while our greenhouse was getting built so that we could do a little pre-learning.  Only problem is indoors,  the grow lights run up the electric bill a bit.  They do in the greenhouse in the winter too.  But in the winter, the salad stuff grows and tastes so much better because the temps are kept just right (we use a wood burner and heaters in the fish tanks), and it grows in abundance.  If you want to know anything about the fish (auqaponics), just PM me anytime.   I doubt on the veggie part that I could tell a farm girl like you a thing about growing food that you don't already know.

[wrancher]

Actually we probably do egg salad sandwiches more than tuna. Just warm them up I just put a sliced cheese on each one.

[wrancher]

Lindsay found a good website for you  maybe you have already heard of it http://www.raisingarrows.net/large-family-living/

look under shopping and meals

[Rooney]

Thank you!! I had heard of this many times, but never even bothered to look at it.  Fun site with lots of info. That should keep me busy for a while.