How to figure electricity usage...

I was reading through some of the blogs I have saved and came across the site
http://smallnotebook.org/2008/06/09/how-to-find-the-cost-of-electricity/
She has a chart to beable to figure your electrical usage.

Another site is http://www.homesteadblogger.com/hsbfrontporch lots of sites from women all trying to make their lives and thir families better.

Somewhere else...I get emails from Gooseberry Patch, http://www1.gooseberrypatch.com
they have alot of different items, Love to look, but a little pricey for me. Amanda this is where I saw the "Giant cupcake pan", it was $10.00 less at Hobby Lobby, I also like the one for fresh flowers called Cake Vases, very pretty

Continuing garden education

This is a female squash bloom (even though I think it looks like a male part), they are the only one to actually produce squash. Yea, I didn't no that either. See...you can already see the little squash starting to form between the tiny bud and the plant.

This is a very pretty squash blossom. It is male. No matter what we do to it, it will never produce an edible squash. So even though we have had lots of blooms, these are the males and they are just for looks. Thank you Charles for this lesson in zucchini squash anatomy.

what I did on my summer vacation

floating in the pool

laying in the sun

How many do you see?

Lemon Ice Box Pie

This is a cool summer treat...

• 1 graham cracker crust

this can be store bought already prepared or you can make your own with graham cracker crumbs and melted butter.

Mix together with electric mixer (makes up very quick and easy)

• 1 8 oz. cream cheese


• 1/2 cup lemon juice


• 1 can sweetened condensed milk


• 1 small tub cool-whip

If you are a stockpiler like me, I have added the cool-whip frozen, the pie isn't quite as fluffy, but still good.

Wait a minute where's my sweetened condensed milk?

Kenneth, get off the computer I need to make some sweetened condensed milk for the pie. A quick search later and ...

Things you'll need:

• 2 cups non-fat dry milk


• 1 1/2 cups white sugar


• 2/3 cups boiling water


• 6 tablespoons melted butter


• Blender, mixer or wire whisk


• Bowel

Step One:

Mix sugar and dry milk together in a bowel. Add the boiling water a little at a time and stir well.

Step Two:

Add the melted butter into the mix slowly. Stir well until blended.

Step Three:

Pour the mix into a blender and blend until its rich and smooth-creamy looking consistency. You can also mix this by hand with a wire whisk or mixer.

Step Four:

Use this in place of canned in any recipe. Put it into a freezer bag or jar (leave enough headroom for expansion) You can freeze it for up to six months or it keeps in the refrigerator for about a week. This makes 20 ounces instead of the usual 14 oz. can for a lot less money.

Tip: Boil your water and melt your butter in the microwave.

I did it!

After reading my friend Jenefer's blog...she made some pizza using homemade pizza crust (check it out over at "Just Jenefer")...Kenneth was like drooling... I got the nerve up to finally make some homemade bread, with yeast!

OK, I hear everyone going "what's the big deal?" But you have to understand my phobias...What if it doesn't rise? How will I know how long to knead it? What if it doesn't taste good? What if nobody likes it? Do you see a pattern here?

Once upon a time I went to a therapist, she was quick to point out to me that I have a tendency to "What IF?" everything to death. Anyway I'm still working on it soooo you ask.......how did it turn out?

Absolutely Fabulous!

It sliced up really nice for sandwiches and was a wonderful toast.

Since the recipe makes enough for two loaves,

I made cinnamon rolls out of half, see all the goodies in the bottom of the pan.

If you notice the missing roll from the pan, it was great with morning coffee!

Note: Bread recipe from "Chickens In the Road", its her Grandmother Bread. The rolls are from the "Crispies" recipe, only I didn't mash them down, maybe next time.

Question:

To save money by making your own homemade bread, do you save anything if you then decide to go buy the $200.00 Kitchen Aid mixer to help in making it?

What're you reading?

anything good?

The puppies were here...

Do you have any idea where we are?

No, I was asleep most of the way

Well let's see what we can find out.

Wait a minute, what does this say?

Did you find out anything?

No, but Albertson's has cantalopes on sale for $1.00 each.

Hey you guys come over here, I think I found a way out.

Hey...wait a minute...how did you get out there?

Oh Yea, jackpot!

So this is what you were keeping in the bedroom.

Homemade Fried Rice

We LOVE fried rice, but just like everything else I'm trying to stay away from spending to much at the restaurants. So I knew when I came across this recipe this was for us! Because the first ingredient is...

• 6 to 8 slices bacon, cut into small pieces
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 5 to 6 cups cold, cooked rice
• 1 pound frozen mixed vegetables
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt or 3 to 4 tablespoons soy sauce
• 4 eggs- beaten together
• 1 to 2 cups leftover cooked chicken (optional)

Cut the bacon into small pieces. Place in a large skillet or Wok. Add onion. Fry until the onion and bacon are both lightly browned. Add the rice, frozen vegetables and black pepper. Stir-fry until the rice is coated with bacon grease and the veggies are thawed. Add the chicken (if desired), pepper and salt or soy sauce. Move the rice to one side of the pan. Pour the eggs into the empty side and scramble. After cooking them a minute or two, stir them in with the rice and veggies. Continue to fry everything together until piping hot. Let set for a couple of minutes to crisp up the bottom.

Makes 4 servings plus leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Note:

I used both white and brown rice mixed together and we left out the chicken. We used the soy sauce which gives your dish the brown color. The bacon gives it a new wonderful flavor.

Still burning...

we also started burning three of the smaller piles.
This is what's left of the big pile, just the tree stumps,
burn baby burn. We leave in two days.

Sunflowers

OK, everybody look this way, hold it and smile.

We are Officially on VACATION...

Yes, we're going on a road trip. Even with the price of gas we are hitting the road and traveling across 12 states over the next 12 days, and you bet...there will be pictures later!

We will be going from home to Arkansas, where we will leave Dusty with Charles and Amanda. Then on to Missouri to visit Kenneth's brother and daughter for a couple of days.

Continuing on to Virginia to see Sam and Courtney, plans there include possibly Virginia Beach and Bush Gardens or Williamsburg and the gardens there.

Then onto Gatlinburg, TN for our 32nd wedding anniversary and the 4th of July, big doings going on there.

Then we're taking a new route for us and traveling back through Georgia.

What we picked today

Arm & Hammer Baking Soda

This is Arm & Hammer Baking Soda...everybody knows about using it for baking and you can find the smaller 2 lb. box in your local market in the baking isle along with the baking powder. But, have you ever looked on the laundry detergent isle for it also? Here is where I found the 4 lb. box at a similar price, it was a little over $2.00 for twice as much. If all your going to use it for is baking I would probably still just buy the smaller box so it doesn't expire before its all gone. You could still use it to clean with even after its no longer good for baking.

Here are a few ways you can also use it, I got these from "ALL For You" magazine, they are not my ideas, for even more go to www.TipNut.com, they always have so many good ideas.

In the Kitchen:

• Buy a large salt shaker, fill it with baking soda and sprinkle away odors. Dust it over the garbage in the kitchen, in the dishwasher before running a load, in drains and garbage disposals.
• Mix a solution of 1 quart of warm water and 1/4 cup baking soda. Pour into your coffee maker reservoir, then brew. Rinse by brewing with just water. The result: a crystal clean pot and fresh tasting coffee. You can also use this solution for your tea pitchers.

In the Bathroom:

• Throw your cloth shower curtains and bath mats in the wash with 1 cup of baking soda. They'll come out like brand new.
• Wipe down or soak plastic and vinyl bath toys in 1/4 cup baking soda per quart of water.

In the Bedroom:

• Freshen your bedroom closet just as you do your fridge: Place an open box on a shelf to absorb odors.
• Freshen up stuffed animals by placing toys in a bag and sprinkle in baking soda. Close the bag, shake and let sit 15-20 minutes before dusting or vacuuming off the powder.

In the Yard:

• Degunk your barbecue grill. Place the racks in a plastic garbage bag and pour a mixture of 1 cup baking soda and 1/2 cup ammonia over them. Secure the bag with a twist tie and leave outdoors overnight. Wipe and hose off the racks the next day.

In Pet Areas:

• Clean up pet accidents on a carpet by using a paste of baking soda and water. Apply, let dry, then vacuum.

We are burning the wood pile...

Now we just let the stumps burn, this was a really good smelling fire...
It had pine trees, apple wood and a pecan wood in it.

But maybe I should have held off on hanging out the rugs to dry...
Another thing to remember when using the clothesline.

Okra grows up?

Okra blooms

See the okra growing up, I didn't know it grew that way. Then you must use a sharp knife to cut it off. We have been getting about 5 okra every other day.

This may come as a shock to some who think I have all the knowledge of the ages when it comes to growing a garden, but I don't really have a clue as to what I'm doing. That's why I'm so amazed when it grows. I just started with an idea that things were going to get a little rough over the next couple of years and started doing research on the computer to put in a little kitchen garden and here we are now.

We still aren't getting anymore from the garden then we can eat, but I know that this is still helping with the grocery bill. Now if I can just get Kenneth to become a vegetarian...

Clothes pin bag

I made a clothes pin bag from two napkins I've had in a drawer for 20 years.
It just seemed like when you have a clothes line you must have a bag to put them in. It is not as fancy as some I've seen online but it does the job.

the back view

the front view

OK, its held together by safety pins, but I did have to sew a large button hole in the top to slip the hanger through. I couldn't figure out how to sew the sides up and still be able to get the clothes hanger out if it got dirty and needed to be washed.

The life of a foot kitty...

pet me

Lightbulbs...

It's hard to see the date on this but its March 2004. When I first started changing out the light bulbs, because they were so expensive and to see if they would really last 5 years, I wrote the month and year onto them. I never realized how long ago we started changing out the light bulbs until Sunday when one burned out.

I still try and write the month and year on any bulbs I change out. This one lasted 4 years and 3 months. Not bad for a bulb.

This is the new bulbs we bought, notice how much smaller it is and its still equivalent to a 60 watt bulb, but if you look really close you can see the new one only uses 12 volts instead of 24 volts.

Kenneth was going to just throw away the burned out one but I was like NO.

You can't just throw it away it has to be recycled. Now I have to find out where it needs to go.

Garden update...

slicer tomatoes

cherry tomatoes

two cantalopes

two cantalope

Our first baby watermelon.