Creative Homemaker

The boys’ ears were disappearing and I almost couldn’t see their eyes, so after dinner I had Ace go get the clippers and I trimmed, no, mowed their heads. I could see them again! They actually had ears! Maybe that’s why they didn’t follow directions so well, they couldn’t hear me! Then after the boys’ heads, I did Bear’s hair too. So I’m calculating $11 per kid’s haircut and $7 for a military cut. That saved me $40 in haircuts last night. The girls need their bangs trimmed which I’ll do when I get brave. Miss Busy’s isn’t so hard, but Chel’s hair is so thick and coarse, it is hard to get them straight. Maybe I’ll tape it to her forehead! We also implemented a new chore chart; I stole the idea from a friend of mine. Amy uses clothes pins to write the chores, then the kids clip them to their shirt hem until they finish the job, then they have a constant reminder that they have a job to finish. My kids have a tendency to “get lost” while they are working so I thought we would give this a...

Gayle over at Grace for Gayle was having the same problem as me. No original blogging material. So I'm grabbing her meme. You can check out hers. A. Attached or single? Very attached! 21 years, swee-eet! B. Best friend? Well, my Bear, the one I'm attached to. C. Cake or pie? Pie. Chocolate cream, with a touch of espresso thrown in for good measure. D. Day of choice? Friday night, date night. E. Essential item? Chapstick. hate dry lips. F. Favorite color? Pink, pink, pink. G. Gummy bears or worms? Neither, licorice jelly beans. H. Hometown? Po-Dunk, Idaho. I. Indulgence? Um, chocolate anything. J. January or July? July, lower power bills. K. Kids? Six. Jewels of my life. L. Life isn’t complete without? Jesus! M. Marriage date? May 13th, right in the middle of finals week in college. I know, silly. N. Number of brothers & sisters? Four brothers, two sisters, I'm the baby. O. Oranges or apples? Hmm, oranges. P. Phobias? Public places with all my kids, they run, and there a...

Well, the pizza, not the movies. Each Friday night, the kids and I have movie and pizza night. It started when Bear was deployed about 5 years ago. It gave the kids something to look forward to while Daddy was away. Back then I called and had it delivered or got a take and bake from the store. It was also a break for mommy, not to have to fix a meal each night. Now that Daddy is home again, we still continue the tradition. But not so much with delivery anymore, now we make our own at home. Making homemade pizza is not a new thing for me; I’ve been perfecting my own crust and sauce for quite some time. My sauce usually varies by what I have in the cupboard at the time, tomato sauce or paste, chunks or smooth, sometimes garlic, sometimes not; spices always. The pizza crust is usually the same each time but I don’t go by a recipe. I start with one cup of water for each crust I’m making. Then I add one tablespoon of yeast for each cup of water. A tablespoon of sugar or so, and then I sh...

I am the youngest of 7 children. I have two older sisters and 4 older brothers, we have all married and have anywhere from four to seven children each. So there is a great number of nieces and nephews thrown in the pot as well. We are all a bit quirky in our own way. The other day there was a quite a bit of discussion about our quirkiness amongst our family email list. The discussion centered on who might have been the most Obsessive Compulsive. It went something like this: Sister Silver: “Doc says I have sleep apnea, so I’m sleep deprived OCD. He wondered how I manage to function at times.” Nephew Joe: “There’s nothing wrong with OCD, I function quite well. My bed is rarely made, but God help the one who messes up my movies, cd’s or music. Or refolds my washcloths or bath towels!” Brother CLC: “My wife says I’m OCD because I organize the dishwasher when loading it. But it is not compulsive; I do it because the dishes get cleaner if they are in just the right place. I can stop any time...

Last week at the food bank where I volunteer, I got two more boxes of Pluots. These are little larger than the first boxes, (the fruit themselves, not the boxes) so I decided with Sadge's recommendation, to just dry these this time. I have dried fruit in the past, in fact, I love my American Harvest Snackmaster and use it all summer. I have expended it to 12 trays and love to hear it humming away on the counter, filling the house with warm, fruity smells. (I recently did a bunch of onions though and moved it to the garage, ha ha!) I halved the fruit and then sliced them into 1/4 inch slies so they would uniformaly dry. One batch took about 8 hours in the dryer, then I picked about one tray-full that needed a few more hours. The rest were done; chewy and full of flavor. One box of pluots is finished and filled a gallon size ziplock bag. We are going to make fruit leather out of the next box. I have the solid trays that fit in my Snackmaster and the kids are excited to help with thi...