The end of October

Halloween is growing on me. I really used to dislike it and now it's more fun--a chance to be someone else for the night.

I told Andrew I would spend $5 on his costume, and this is what he came up with . . . not bad for free:

The uniform wasn't free this summer when he played baseball . . . but at least it didn't cost more now.

Bryn got the same $5, but only spent about $3.

Waitress

Her first year trick or treating with friends . . . and she loved it.

Caitlin also went with friends for the first time. Sad for me, but a necessary step.

Diana wanted to wear the family tradition . . . . but only for school.

For church she was a witch again like last year

And here's Ed . . . in the $5 costume I bought the day after Halloween at Target (a million years ago in Chicago when it fit Andrew). This was for the ward party . . . for Halloween he wore the one below:

October was a great month weather-wise. We enjoyed many busy days. Nathan worked two Saturday mornings helping with flood cleanup, our family did the 5K, we went to Cheyenne to watch the BYU Ballroom dancers with my family (and left Nathan and the boys to watch some football on cable TV . . . a novelty because we don't have it). That's on top of the daily things: morning piano lessons & choir, afternoon football, cross country, swimming, and walking the neighbor's dog. Add in tutoring twice a week and I am surprised how many things that are not written down get accomplished anyway.

Days of coming & going, and breakfast, lunch and dinner in shifts. Two leave for middle school together and then an hour and a half later, two more leave for elementary. Someone needs a ride or I have to get more groceries. It's busy and crazy and great & stressful all at once. No better job. 

Without fail, annually sometime close to Oct 20th I want to go sugar free . . . . but it never lasts. 
We are buried under a small mountain of Halloween candy. This year we had dentist appointments on Nov. 1st. So ironic.

The best part of all that Halloween candy? TRADING!!!!

A little planning goes a long way

Last week I didn't meal plan and it was horrible. I went through all of my "emergency" meals and stressed out about dinner every day.

This week I forced myself to plan the meals for the week on Sunday. It's only Tuesday, but it's going so much better. How come I have to learn things the hard way? I still have one night without a plan, but I am sure I can fill it. Perhaps I should plan weeks at a time so I can just grab a weeks' worth on Sunday and go with it. Hmmm..... will have to consider it.

This was dinner last night, and everyone loved it. It's tricky to find a vegetable to go well with it, but it does have pumpkin in it . . . . we had carrot sticks. We served it with whipped cream, no need for syrup here. I am really into food that you can prep early these days, because I am out running kids around most afternoons between 4 and 6. If you have someone who can take a pan out of the oven for you, (while you are gone driving) this one works. And, if you want to try Pumpkin Egg Nog, this is a great excuse to buy some.

Monday we tried this new salad dressing. Easy to cut this recipe in half. It caught my eye because it uses onion powder instead of cutting an onion. I love any recipe that makes that substitution. Worth it in my book, especially for a small amount of onion.

My favorite food storage meal lately? Mac & Cheese with Rotel Tomatoes & Black beans. We cut the butter in half but make everything else like normal, and add one can black beans & one can Rotel. Served with shredded lettuce on the side . . . so good.

(Hoping the Red Sox win the World Series tonight so we the final won't interrupt trick or treating). How can it be almost November?

How many? Fall 2013 canning edition

How many?

Times in the past 3-4 years have I had trouble getting my pressure canner up to pressure?
No idea, but my guess is between 20 and 30

Times have I wondered if I needed a new seal for it?
20-30

$ does it cost to replace?
 $11
(How often are you advised to replace it? Once a year, or more if used heavily . . . ahem).

Stores in Fort Collins carry them?
One that I know of, Ace Hardware.

Times have I canned in the past 10 days?
4

Jars?
14 pint size chicken
16 pints black beans
15 pints Great Northern beans
14 pints garbanzo beans
10 pints light red kidney beans
=69 lovely little jars of food. . . .
-one to my mom, and two to our family (What can I say? Canned chicken recipes are the best)
=66 little jars of food.

I had kids home on TH, so they helped.

My family canned & grew a garden. Nathan's family really canned and really had a garden. (What I mean is that their temperate climate and large lot made it possible for them to grow a giant garden--and then they had to store that food).
We hope to pass those skills on.
If my kids are home, I try to include them as I can. Although not shown in the picture above, I try to have one child help me at a time. (A lesson I learned in the Neuffer kitchen). It makes it much more manageable for me. This time they each did 3 jars of beans for me. So helpful.


Dried beans are a good place to start with helping kids learn to can. The prep and cleanup are easy. They can pour them in without my worrying about sticky everything. Love eating home canned beans, too.

What time did my last canning session end?
1:15 am . . . . should have started earlier in the day!

Flood Update (Saturday Oct 19)

This morning Nathan took Andrew and the other 12-13 year olds to dig in the mud in Berthoud. They went to help a family whose property had been buried under feet of mucky mud.

The owner boards horses . . . well, used to until the flood. His corral was buried under tree branches, weeds, and mud that were swept along. He was able to get all of his animals out successfully, but lost a pair of chickens to the neighbor's dog who was keeping them for him.

The boys worked on clearing out 2-3 feet of mud from this shed. (Nathan estimated it was 15 by 20 feet).

Before--see the waterline?

Outside . . . see all the debris in the mud?

Part of the pile of mud they removed from the shed

It would have taken the family a LONG time to get it done, but the boys and parents who accompanied them were able to clear it out in 3 hours. The owner has been using a front end loader to clean up his property, but because of the small doors to the shed, the only way to clean it out was by hand, with shovels & wheelbarrows. The owner offered them lunch, but they'd brought it with them, so they worked and then came home. He thanked them many times.

Our nephew was visiting our family this weekend, and since he's in that age group he got to go along as well. It was a good experience for them, I think they'll sleep really well tonight.

They've made mention about keeping the cleanup efforts going until the really cold weather is here . . . we had a little snow (only an inch or so) this week, so we'll see. Several people we know have spent their Saturday mornings each week involved in the cleanup efforts.

Nathan said the property was beautiful, even with all the mud. The basement of the house was flooded, with three feet of water, but the main damage was to the barn, corral, and shed closer to the river.


Update: Sunday evening
Today at church they read some numbers about service hours. They said that over 2400 people from our stake have given over 8000 hours of service. 33 unique projects have been undertaken, 18 of them in Berthoud (one of the hardest hit in our stake). Quite a thing.

Fall is here

Probably the worst photo ever shared on the internet, but it gives you the idea

Family home evening apple tasting (Found online, not my own creativity)
We tested 8 apples  . . . and I would have picked some different ones, but this is what they had where I shopped that Monday:
Granny Smith, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Jazz, Pink Lady, Gala, Honeycrisp, Sweet Tango.

We voted on Sweet, Juicy, Tart & Favorite.

Here are the Favorite winners:
Gala: Ed & Diana
Sweet Tango: Andrew & Caitlin
Honeycrisp: Beth & Nathan

When it was over, we cut up what was left and put in on the stove to bowl. We got a small bowl of applesauce, they each got one spoonful in the morning to add to their oatmeal.

I think this activity would work with lots of ages. I feel bad for the checker who has to check you out at the store, but he'll get over it.


Giant Pumpkin contest
Between morning and afternoon sessions of Saturday conference, we went to a nearby nursery to see their giant pumpkin contest. It was a great break to get outside. There were not very many pumpkins there, but the ones that showed up were impressive.

Quite a thing to move a pumpkin that big--this is the winner

Officially this is a "squash," not a pumpkin, so its 900lb weight didn't win . . . it was the biggest

2nd or 3rd place?

I can update weights in the morning after the kids remind me how much they were. Nathan was digging in the Berthoud Mud, so not pictured here. He earned his Mormon Helping Hands T-shirt for slogging in the mud that day.

CSU Homecoming 5K

It's kind of tradition for our family to participate in the Homecoming 5K. We've done it (at least one of us), every year since moving here, except last year when N & A were in UT for conference. It was a big group this year. Every one of our family members entered. It's sponsored by the department that Nathan works with for research, so it's giving back to them a bit. A lot of people, 2000+. Chip timing is a lovely thing. Everyone had someone to run with. Nathan stayed with Diana, Edwin stayed with me (mostly in a stroller, though I made him run over the finish line), Bryn, Cait & Andrew started together but Bryn finished ahead of them thanks to her many hours of cross country practice this fall. She finished first for our family.
We took a starting line pic, but I've been asked not to share it. (boo!)


Fall Leaf Drive

This afternoon we had commitments until after dinner, so after our meetings we went on a fall color drive. Most of the leaves here turn yellow, so we were on the hunt for orange, red, and brown leaves. It was pleasant. We drove up to Lory State Park, turned around because we didn't want to pay, and headed up the Reservoir road from the North. We've never been from that direction, so it was fun to approach it from a different way. We came down and checked out some of the city park area, finishing off with a stop at the flower gardens across from CSU. They have planted an annual garden to show how different types of annuals weather in the Rocky Mountains. It is a lovely place that will not look so lovely in a few weeks. Nathan had the camera, so perhaps I will get photos from him in the next couple of days.

Caitlin's Harvest

Each of the 3rd graders were given a plant in the spring from Bonnie Plants, a national company. They sponsor a cabbage contest. Caitlin was the only one who contacted her teacher about it, so her teacher said she "won." That meant we got to enter. All the Colorado entries will be place in a hat and someone from the Colorado Dept. of Agriculture will choose a winner in December. The prize is a $1000 scholarship.

I know I am partial, but I guarantee no one loved their cabbage plant like Caitlin. She wanted to check on it in the morning both before and after breakfast. She watered it, cried over it (bugs or bunnies eating the leaves), worried about it, planted a pinwheel next to it, and nurtured it. If she had any water left over at mealtime, she would go out and give it to her plant to drink.

In the end it weighed 8 lbs, 14 ozs. If it's based on size, she will probably not win. If they could only measure her heart.

So far we've eaten coleslaw & won ton soup with cabbage from its leaves. We still have half a cabbage left. My favorite is stuffed cabbage rolls, but pretty much only one other person in the fam agrees with me.

Life changing salad dressing

It's been awhile since I've written about veggies at lunch, so here goes:

I pretty much do it every day . . . I don't keep track but I would say that 9 out of 10 or more times I do eat veggies with my lunch. Two Saturdays ago when lunch was pancakes & eggs I did not eat veggies. . . and I could have but didn't.
I have to say it's been a good change.

My favorite lunch veggie is spinach. I buy a one lb. box every time I'm at Sam's. (Unless they are out--then I growl under my breath and have to buy it at another store).  Nathan and I are the ones who eat it most, but if I give my kids an option they will usually eat some kind of veggie. Today one of the older children tried it on a turkey sandwich and enjoyed it, so there is hope.

I found this recipe my Aunt had given me several years ago that I'd never tried. It is a winner because it tastes good, goes well with Spinach and you can keep all the ingredients easily in your house. Drop me a line if you try it and like it, too.

Spinach Salad dressing:

1/3 C oil
1/4 C Lemon juice
2 T. Soy sauce
1/8 tsp. Tabasco sauce

I call it awesome. Just fresh enough, b/c of the lemon, just spicy enough b/c of the tabasco. It feels a touch oily . . . but pretty close . . . and it's possible I put in 1/2 C? Can't remember. I confess many times I make it on the fly in my bowl, and it's probably a little heavy on the Lemon juice that way. 

Consciously eating veggies at lunch this year has not made me lose a ton of weight, but I feel better and it's led to other positive changes. Like seeing someone about my back, joining a gym, seeing people I haven't in many years, and taking Barre class. I love it. 

p.s. For my mom & Dad, this recipe is from Aunt Maxine. It's delicious & from family, you should try it.