Blogging Is Like a Dating Website

One day, a couple of weeks ago, I was up late sitting in bed and reading my e-mails. I had received one from Debby from Canada. What she wrote and said in that e-mail had me in tears. She is not a blogger but has been following my blog for some time and described how much she had identified with some of my life's path like the loss of a mother, raising a young one in your later years. Anyway, I won't get into details but somehow for her, things I had said in my posts just clicked. We clicked. I was very moved by her words and how much she remembered about my posts from the past. She sent this calendar to me based on the cover and how much it reminded her of the post I did on my husband's old workboots and how I planted flowers in them after he finally got a new pair. Wow! I mean how awesome is that. I get so much more than I could ever give on this blog. You all offer me such encouragement and fellowship.

She was so sweet to go through the trouble to send me this package with a wonderful note and enclosed a recipe I am wanting to try. This is how I feel blogging is similar to dating websites. You see blogs and you find out what a person is like and similarities to you. Things in common, kindred spirits and all that. It weeds out the folks you just have nothing in common with and sometimes you just have a match. Someone has said something you can totally relate with and a bond is formed. Am I off the deep end here? Maybe. But I have corresponded and met with some really terrific women through this journey of blogging. I just want to regularly say thanks. Thank you Debby and thanks to my blogging friends.

Linking to:
Wow Us Wed.
Seasonal Sundays

Are You a Prepper?

This is actually a term that is new to me. I found it researching prices on the internet. A prepper is someone who is driven to prepare for disasters that can leave you without resources for an extended period of time. Some are worried about natural disasters, our countries economic future, terrorist attack or a sudden risen in inflation brought on by a run on the banks or an economic collapse. Some sort of cataclysm that can end our way of attaining food, keeping our house powered and food preserved, utilities running. You get the picture.

My husband and I are fast becoming preppers. Now before you think I have gone off the deep end, let me give you our reasons. I believe at any time we could have a very large earthquake where we live. In the nineties, we had our last big earthquake here. It was sizable and caused a  lot of property damage. Freeways collapsed and we know some people injured. Now that was not a huge earthquake. One of just a slightly larger magnitude could cripple our area. Damaged water lines, loss of power, roads not drivable are all a possibility.

It has been on our hearts for over a year now that we need to really get prepared. About a year ago we had a Mylar balloon hit a line in our backyard which cause a major outage that lasted two days. Because we are campers we had a generator. From our small generator we were able to run a TV, lamp, refrigerator and power are phones and computer. Our neighbors all wondered how we had a light on and our TV running. We saw then how bleak things can become very quickly. Only two days is not a long time but what if it were a week or two? Also, because we are campers we had lanterns and lots of flashlights. We were able to run our propane lantern out front for our daughter coming home late and I was able to take a battery operated lantern to our neighbor who is bed-ridden and had only a flash light and who's helper had gone home for the night. I could not imagine her in the total dark all night with nothing to see with. She was so thankful to have it until the sun came up in the morning.

Anyway, I am going to share with you our journey to become prepared for any disaster, natural or man made. Do you know that grocery store shelves can be completely cleared in a matter of hours. What if trucks cannot get through? We cannot rely on others to care for us or the government to be there if a disaster occurs. We have decided to use some of our tax return this year to begin our survival preparations. I have already started buying more water at the market and I really want to get our pantry stocked for a minimum of a month or more preferably. I want to be able to feed us without outside help for an extended period of time.

I will also share the other steps we are taking to keeping our house running in the event of an emergency. I have a husband that is often very far from home and if something occurred while he was away, I need to be able to hunker down and care for my kids as well as keep them safe until he got home or things returned to normal. We figure it is all money that will be well spent as we will of course eat the food and rotate it but also the peace of mind it will bring is what we are both after. We are both sensible people and if something is on our hearts as this has been, there must be a reason. It is time for action and I am glad we are finally going to complete this task.

Linking to:
Homemaker on a Dime
Simply Sweet
a bowl full of lemons
Coastal Charm
Titus 2sday
Wow Us Wed.
Raising Homemakers

Rainy Day and Giveaway Winner

We are finally getting some much needed rain here. I love to wake up to the sound when I know I don't have to go anywhere. The house remains dark on these dreary days so to make it more cozy I go around and plug in all my little lamps.

I am going to bake our bread this week.  I am challenging myself to spend as little as possible on groceries for this week. A few minutes of extra effort making things from scratch can really help keep  me out of the store. When my daughter was eating pb&j on a hot dog bun this morning I figured it was time to make some good bread.

So the dogs and cats and my two youngest and I will stay in and dry and enjoy a fresh slice of bread with butter and jam later. Oh that is really one of life's pleasures.

Okay onto the winner of my giveaway. I used random generator and the winner was #28, Vicky from Mess for Less.  Congrats Vicky and thanks to everyone who played along with me.

Red Cabbage Salad

This is my adaptation of a salad from a famous restaurant in these parts. It is easy, inexpensive and tasty. Always a hit when I take it to parties and my 14 year olds favorite salad.

Red Cabbage Salad
Finely shred or chop a bowl full of red cabbage. The salad will reduce once you put the marinade on and it sits for a while.

For a big bowl like this I add (and this is a rough estimate) 1/3 cup of oil and a 1/2 cup of red wine vinegar. Add about a half teaspoon of salt and a few dashes of garlic powder. I add a little more of the vinegar if I think it needs it and salt if needed. Just toss real well and taste. You need to toss it a couple of times in the fridge. It is best if you make it the day before but at the very least make it in the morning of the day you are serving it. The longer it marinades the better.

Linking to:
Nifty Thrifty Things
Sundae Scoop
BNOTP
The House in the Roses
BoogieBoard Cottage
Everything Under the Moon
Bowl full of lemons

Aahhh.....

I am breathing a collective sigh of relief. You know I have had a bumpy week. Started with my girly getting her wisdom teeth removed rather unexpectedly and then some complications that made the week worrisome and stressful and needing another visit to the oral surgeon. The week ended today with the memorial for my sister in law's daughter who passed away at the end of December. I was dreading it as most do when you know you have to go to something sad. Sad but necessary. My brother needed family there and my sister in law needed support. Her daughter was 48 and left behind six kids two of which are not even 18 yet. But you know, it was a very nice celebration of her life and we all shared a lot of good food and spent time as families do in these situations. As we drove away I just felt such a release of the whole week and am so glad to be home with my jammies watching my little one play in the bath tub.

Tomorrow starts a new week and we have been invited by my inlaws to go out to breakfast so I am really looking forward to a fresh new seven days of girls coming and going, hubby's laundry needing washing and meals to prepare. Thank goodness for the slow uneventful days. They are the best in my book. Now I can breath and oh,  my daughter with the wisdom teeth, she is on the mend and went back to work tonight. I give it to her though, she could not miss clinicals at the hospital this week and went two days for 12 hours in lots of pain. She only had to miss for a visit back to the doctor. She is strong. My sister in law is strong. God bless strong women!!

A Wee Valentine Tour

This is a small tour of my Valentine's goodies as I don't have too many things but I do love Valentine's. Red and hearts are my favorite! I love these glitter hearts and could find no where to put them so came in the kitchen and the tall gent I am married to had put them in this old grater.

I have to say this little shelf is hard to keep the way I have it as my little one thinks it is her display space as well and loves to tuck things in here every single day. Came in yesterday to see my cookbook gone and one of her books in its place.

We have lighted hearts that hang on all the windows. I love the red glow at night.

I gave this heart to my hubby for his desk at work about 20 years ago. He is in the field now so it came home. I love how he put it in the window for the light to shine through.

Like my Valentine centerpiece? Pretty lame but hey it matches the chairs. We eat out here all the time at night so I keep it simple. I keep saying I just need a lazy Susan because we are always passing stuff back and forth.

LOVE YA!!

Linking to:
Sunday Blog Love
Sat. Night Special
Seasonal Sundays
The House in the Roses
Boogie Board Cottage
Girl Creative
Savvy Homemade
Cheap Crafty Mama
Mod Mix Monday
Table Top Tuesday
Bowl full of lemons
Itsy Bitsy Paper

Quick Reminder

I will do the drawing this weekend so if you haven't entered my giveaway you can do it here.
The box is all ready to go and I have thrown some other goodies in there.

Cozy Brown Sugar Bars

I saw these the other day on the The Cozy Little Kitchen's blog and made them that very same afternoon. They are nutty and chewy with just a few ingredients I always have on hand. This will be my perfect go to recipe when I need a dessert in a flash. Head on over to The Cozy Little Kitchen for a look around and the recipe.

The kids kept asking what was for dessert and what are those and I said there was one for everyone after dinner. I loved that I made dessert from the pantry with ingredients I had on hand. They were gone in five minutes.

Linking to:
Show and Tell Friday
Simply Link Party
Comfy In the Kitchen

Thrifty Living 2012

Welcome. Today is the first post in a new series.

In this series, there will be five women sharing the individual struggles they face economically with their families in a particular region. 

Each week one of us, Claudia, Elaine, Jen, Diane and Brenda, will feature a topic on how we are living more thriftily in the year 2012. Then the rest of us will add our own paragraph or so on how we apply that to our own lives. 

We run the gamut. Brenda is the only single family household. Claudia and Don live with their two dogs in New York. Elaine and her husband have a small daughter and older children in Southern California. Jen and Gar have just relocated to another part of Canada and are looking for their first house. (In fact I think they just found one.) Diane and Ron live in Florida and are retired. 

Here is my introduction:

 If you are new here my name is Elaine and I am a wife and mother of four. I have been married 22 years and have four daughters that are 20, 17, 14 and three. As you can see we run the gammut of ages around here. I have kids in college and one not even in pre-school yet.

 I worked for the first 18 years of my marriage but came home full time when I had my last baby. It was always a dream and it finally came true. Thanks to a husband that works very hard and very long hours, we are able to survive here in expensive Southern California on one income. Needless to say though when we gave up my extra income, we had to change our ways if we were to survive not only on one income but on what was and is some the most expensive years as a parent. Kids starting to drive and entering college.

Before, when I was working, I would pretty much shop and buy whatever we needed or wanted. Not a good plan. Now I am a whole different person. I consider every dollar spent, working hard to pay cash only and pay off some loans so we can be debt free eventually. Frugality has become my mantra and feeding, clothing and providing for this large family as thriftily as I can has become my new job here at home. I am always reading a book on frugal this and that. You know what I also discovered? That when I starting turning my focus inward to our home and living a more simplified life, a result of our newer frugal ways, that I became a happier person. Buying and shopping was not making me happy but now cooking up a good meal and stretching our money, keeping the house warm and inviting was really what I was in search of all along. I think many people are struggling right now just to cover the basics and I hope what I have learned can help.

Please take a minute and visit the other women taking part in this series:
Brenda at Cozy Little House
Claudia at Mockingbird Hill Cottage
Jen at Muddy Boot Dreams
Diane at Lavender Dreams

Linking to:
Katherine's Corner
Transformation Thurs.
Thrifty Thurs.
Potpourri Friday
Your Thriving Family
Serenity Now
LACE
Frugal Days

Target Time

In Target this week to do my stock up of pet food and some other necessities. I had only $40 cash and that was all I was going to allow myself to spend. In fact I am thinking of implementing the envelope system for myself as a challenge to really stay within a budgeted amount for each category of shopping and entertainment. Anyway, I am wandering but they are really starting to mark down. I am sure new spring lines are coming but I saw these little cheap clocks. Just plastic but colorful none the less and I needed a new one for my little office re-do and I grabbed the yellow one cause it was such a cheery color and I may hang it in the kitchen. We have no clocks in this house so at $1.98 a piece, they came home with me. Check out those end caps and clearance tags throughout the store. They had some great dishes marked down to but they would have exceeded my allowance for today so I passed them up.

Easing Cold Symptoms

As is typical for this time of year we have a cold virus making its way through our house. Seems one at a time  everyone is waking up with that darn cold. I want to share my way of fighting the cold tooth and nail. I refuse to just give in a get the darn thing. It started a  few years ago with visit to a naturopath. She was so informative and one area she covered was how to fight off a cold or virus or at least minimize it.

I'll preface her words with this. Since following her advice, I have had only the most minor of cold for about the last three years. A mild sore throat, a little sniffle but not the full blown cold my husband is having right now as he refuses to follow my advice. Maybe coincidence but it can't hurt to give your system a boost.

Now she said it is very important to take these steps at the first sign of any kind of cold or flu.

The first feeling of a cold you should get home when you can and if you can get to bed early, follow these steps. First make yourself a cup of some thing hot like tea. 

 Take it to your bath and fill a nice hot bath. Get in and have a good soak. Drink your hot tea and really get your body temp up good and warm. As soon as you get out put on your warmest jammies or sweats and then climb into bed to keep your body temp up as long as possible. This is to help your body fight any virus that is lurking.

Next get yourself some of these zinc lozenges and suck on them throughout the day. I will even start on these if the kids get sick and the germ is in the house.

Of course if you or your family isn't feeling well, a pot of  Homemade Chicken Soup is in order. I made some 

before my daughter had her wisdom teeth removed and she has been eating it like mad. Of course I chopped everything really fine for her. Boil those bones good and long to get all the good stuff out of the chicken.

Linking to:
Thrifty Thurs.
The Charm of Home
Bowl Full of Lemons

Spring Cleaning?

For many years I have followed the Fly Lady's method of spring cleaning or basically breaking down deep cleaning of your home into zones. You basically focus on a zone every week and I just do this a few times throughout the year. The first zone is the entry way. I spent one morning scrubbing the entry way top to bottom. This is a good place to start because it is often smaller than the rest of your rooms and it is the first thing you see when you walk in so you enjoy your work right away.

A little gloomy today so the pics are sort of dark but here is my entry way.

I cleaned the glass doors with my mixture of water and rubbing alcohol. It works better than any other glass cleaner than I have ever used. Cheap, less toxic and just smells clean too. I also use it for other uses here.

I also needed to polish up the brass light fixture. I Googled it and found that taking a rag dipped in vinegar and then salt works great as a brass polish. The fixture is old but we are not changing it out. All clean and shiny it looked so much better. Just spiff up your home and enjoy and appreciate what you already have and leave the money in your bank account.

One thing we did when we first moved in here was to hang this peg rack right by the door. It helps keep purses and jackets from being dumped on the floor as everyone walk in and is a great place to hang our keys.

This photo of my husband's grandparents hangs in our entry way. This was their home before we bought after they had both passed. This is them on their wedding day during the depression.

Linking to:
A Bowl Full of Lemons
Time Warp Wife
Coastal Charm
Wow Us Wed.
Women Living Well
Thrifty Thurs.
Transformation Thurs.

Kitchen Shelf for Valentines

It is just about sundown and here is my little kitchen shelf with it's Valentine's doo-dads for the year. In the late afternoon my little heart lights come on and have the brightest cheery red glow. I love them.

Here is the shelf last year. I know use some of the things elsewhere so it fun to change it up year to year.

 I am just adding tucks of hearts and red here and there. I will show the rest later on.

Just a quick update on my patient that had her wisdom teeth pulled today. She was a bit weepy but I finally go her to eat a little something so she could take her pain meds. She is now fast asleep. Hopefully she doesn't have too much swelling as she has to be back at the hospital on Thursday no matter what.


Linking to:
Today's Creative Blog
A Return to Loveliness
Coastal Charm
Tabletop Tuesday
Cozy Home Scenes
A bowl full of lemons
Simply Sweet
Rednesday
Wow Us Wed.
Women Living Well
It's Overflowing
Thrifty Thurs.
Trans. Thurs.

Monday Monday

My new kicks came and they fit great. I was so glad to find these so cheap. I wore them Saturday night to dinner at my sister in laws for my husband's mom's birthday. It was casual and we watched football. I am a huge football fan and love the playoffs. This weekend was fabulous. Two days of all day football.

At one point my daughter laughed cause I was watching one of the games and my husband was re-arranging some of the Valentine decor. She teased us that we had things backwards. It is how we do it. I buy and get the stuff out and he arranges it for me. It is a crack up.

Today my oldest babe has to have all of her wisdom teeth out. Poor thing has been so sick this last week with an infection around one of them. Who knew you could have so many problems. I hope it goes well for her.

So in preparation I pulled out some of the shredded chicken I had made and some various leftovers and made a pot of garbage can soup, all the food that would be tossed in the garbage if I didn't cook it. This way she will have something when she is ready to eat. I doubt she will be even ready for this today so I stocked up on soft foods.

Chicken Broccoli Casserole

Forced to find a recipe to use up six pounds of chicken I had cooked up in the crockpot, I found a yummy basic freezable meal that the family loved. I like to double cook so I can cook once and eat twice.  The recipe is from food.com. You can go there to look at it. It was easy to make and you could vary it to your tastes or what you have on hand. I served it over steamed rice.
At .99 a pound these breasts on the bone cost me about $6 for 6 lbs. I just put them in the crockpot with season salt and lemon pepper with about and inch of water and let them cook for about four hours on high.

Layered and ready to go in the oven with one to freeze for later.

Pulled out my Valentine decor and here is a little peek.

I am not done tweaking it but will share when I am done.

Linking to:
Met Monday
Seasonal Sundays
The House in the Roses
Making Monday Marvelous
Savvy Homemade
Coastal Charm
Bowl Full of Lemons
Comfy in the Kitchen

Saturday in the Kitchen

I think today is the day to get the Valentines decor out. Can't wait to decorate my new old kitchen shelf. I think the red and white will be so fun in here.

A gift of fresh eggs and lemons just make me happy.

This coffee pot never stays in one place long. He is a nomad traveling around the kitchen all the time.

Lots of pots of hot tea with lemon and honey as my littlest generously shared her cold this week.

And I tried a new recipe on the family last night and they loved it. Basic, healthy and nourishing is my style of cooking. I have never shared that I have acid reflux and have for years. I no longer cook with garlic or certain spices but if a recipe calls for it I will include it when I share. You can decide if you want to add it. I modify lots of recipes. I can adapt most to my limitations and have become quite good at it over the years. My husband adds hot sauce if he wants to spice things up as I cannot eat that way any longer. So lots of my recipes are for basic filling meals that are never too spicy. I will share this recipe tomorrow.

Off to make cookies and brownies for my mother in laws birthday this evening. Great day everyone!

Linking to:
Get Schooled Saturday
Funky Junk Interiors
Gingerbread
Sat. Spotlight
Show and Tell Saturday
Weekend Whatever
Sister Sunday
I Heart Naptime
Seasonal Sunday
Tabletop Tuesday
Bowl full of lemons

Update on My Post from Yesterday

I have had so many moving comments on my post from yesterday about the state of struggling families. So many of you are hurting and fighting to stay above water and I pray that you will find the days and years ahead easier. It was never my intention to shame any of us that show our homes or wonderful times as that is what we are, home and life bloggers. I want to see them again. You cannot always be focused on the negative right? When my father in law starts to get too excited about the future of our country I try to remind him that my girls need to be hopeful about their future. If they don't feel like they have all possibilities open to them then they are robbed of what we all had when we were young.
I just wanted to share some thoughts on what was going on in our week and the problem is a very real one. One we do have to deal with but please don't stop showing me the beauty of life. It is important and vital and necessary too.