Stressful shopping

I know, I know, why go shopping if it is stressful?  FOR THE DEALS!!  Here is part of what I picked up today.  There were other items as well, including several packages of meat, cheese, and yogurt.

I had coupons and "deals" for everything I bought except the fresh meat.  I made two mistakes, only one of which cost me money.

Did I mention it was stressful?

The Read More Book Club

Every month I take myself to the book club one of my friends started.  Does that mean I have always read the book?  Ahem, taking the 5th on that one.  Here we are with this past month's pick:

Have you read it?

On the right is our crazy-smart facilitator and hostess Sandra:

Stephanie suggested next month's book which is The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World.  If you are in my area, let me know and you can come with me next time.

Pretzel Dogs

You might have noticed pretzel dogs on the menu below.  They were delicious!

I've tried to make pretzels in the past, but they turned out more like nice twisted bread rolls.  The secret is to dip them in boiling water with a healthy dose of baking soda dissolved in it.  Thirty seconds, then onto the pan, sprinkle with salt and sesame seeds and into the oven.  The kids loved them and so did the adults.

Family Home Evening

About once a quarter our weekly Monday family home evening involves writing to missionaries.  Often Kevin is the lucky recipient, but this week we wrote to two missionaries in our ward as well as to Kevin.  All three are very nice young men and we are happy to remember them and to lighten their day a little with a letter.

Contraband!

Yes, dh is a smuggler.  He brought Kindereggs from Mexico to the USA this weekend.

When our friend GWP tried to bring us some from Canada a couple of years ago his were confiscated at the border.  It seems there is an American law against selling food with a non-food thing inside it.  They want to make sure we Americans don't overlook the yellow plastic capsule and the rainbow toy fairy inside and choke on them when we eat the chocolate shell.

Sigh.

Actually, dh did not hide the eggs and the border agent saw them and even commented on them, but waved them through.

Silly American law.

Meal Plan Sunday

Monday:  Baked potato soup, rolls
Dessert for Family Home Evening:  Black and Blue Cobbler with Brown Sugar-Pecan Biscuits
Tuesday:  Pretzel hot dogs

Wednesday:  Fast and Easy Red Beans and Sausage (Johnsonville Andouille package)

Thursday:  Seven-Layer Bean Dip (delayed until the weekend--we'll have leftovers instead)

Friday:  Bloomin' Pizza (from the freezer)

How to store your cupcake liners

 Go look at this blog post about how to store your cupcake liners. 

I call them cupcake liners instead of muffin cups because I first thought she was going to talk about some kind of cup made of muffin batter.  When I clicked on the post I realized she was talking about the paper liners.  However, I never use paper liners with muffins because the muffin sticks to them unless you have time to let them sit for awhile.  I do need to check out those grease-proof liners she mentions, because maybe those would work for muffins.

I DO use them for cupcakes and found several packages in the back of my deep pantry cupboard that I'd forgotten about.  So nice to have them all in one tidy place now.

Elizabeth's sewing project

Elizabeth got the idea to make a rag doll and she has been surprisingly tenacious in her efforts!  I'm really pleased, as I've been known to sew a thing or two in my time as well.

She is using some fabric that was originally purchased to make a little set of overalls for David (he's 25 now . . . ) and I also used to make her a pioneer bonnet two summers ago.

The doll has a head, two arms, and one leg, some of which are pinned to the body already.  She's working on the last leg in this picture.  She is really happy with her efforts.

The first day of school

Today was the first day of school for my girls.  Here they are all loaded up with backpacks FULL of school supplies.

 Usually I like to get a shot of the girls in front of the bus as I did in 2011 and 2010.  Do you notice anything about this picture?

 Like . . . there is no bus??  And one never came?  Good thing dh and I were planning to put the girls on the bus, then follow it on its route and greet the girls when they got off anyway.  So today the "bus" was Mom's Honda.

Here they are inside the school.

 I told Sophia's friend Kira that she is in most of Sophia's first day of school pictures!  Check the 2011 picture in the link above.  She is Sophia's favorite friend.

 Caroline was at the head of the line this morning.  She was really excited to be starting school again.

 Elizabeth was farther back in line, but almost as excited to greet her old teacher who is their teacher again this year.  We are so very lucky to have her!

Getting ready to go back to school

Today I finally got both class supply lists and school starts tomorrow, so guess what I did after dinner?  Yeah, along with half my city, I think.  Walmart was kind of like, oh, a typical December 22.  A madhouse.  I dropped $45 there.

I was still missing several items but thought I could get them at the grocery store and I was right.  That was another $15.

Anyone know where I can buy a "small dry erase board?"