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?"

This is not our usual kind of egg shell

Caroline brought this shell in to show me.  That is her hand in the picture (although the camera angle elongated it strangely), so you can see how small it is.  The little birds we have around here usually lay blue eggs, so this one was unexpected.

Lemonade Cheesecake

Did you see my recipe link on the weekly menu post?  I made lemonade cheesecake pie this morning and it was almost perfect.  The "almost" is that one of the recipe reviewers suggested doubling the lemonade powder and I wish I hadn't.  It was nearly too sour, although the flavor was good.

The "perfect" part was that the filling was smoooooooth and that's hard to do with the fat free cream cheese called for in the recipe.  You couldn't tell it wasn't the full-fat version.  Chalk that up to a hot kitchen and really leaving it until it was room temperature.

I intended to suck it up and buy a premade graham cracker pie crust, but when I got to the store and saw even the cheap ones were $2.50, I just couldn't.  Instead I bought a box of the cheapest graham crackers they had, ran about a quarter of the package through my salad shooter, mixed in a little sugar and melted butter, pressed it into a pan, and baked it in my little toaster oven for 10 minutes, then froze it.  It took about 8 minutes of prep plus the baking and cooling time and cost about 50 cents and I didn't waste an aluminum pan or plastic lid that would have come with the store-bought one.

Here is what was left after everyone had a slice after Family Home Evening.  Delicious!

I love these girls so much!

Menu Plan Sunday

Monday:  Curried Chicken and Grape Salad (with chicken from the freezer)
Lemonade cheesecake for FHE dessert  [the "link' thing isn't working, so you can find it at: http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/lemonade-cheesecake-55173.aspx ]

Tuesday:  Spaghetti

Wednesday:  Egg/potato/sausage casserole

Thursday:  Chicken parmesan

Friday:  Pizza pockets on the grill

An old-fashioned live-in girlfriend?

I think the terms have changed over the years!  When I'm indexing the 1940 US Census I come across entries like this now and then:

"Roomer" could be true, as there were quite a few roomers and lodgers listed in the 1940 census.  I'm guessing girlfriend.  "Roomer" sounds more quaint though.

What do you thik?

What are these girls doing?

Waiting for our friends to come pick them up to spend a couple of hours at the skating rink!  Caroline doesn't have skates, so she rented some, Sophia has hers in her backpack, and Elizabeth carried hers in a grocery bag.

 I'm not sure why Sophia wanted to wear a maxi dress to the rink, but once I saw that it was wide enough I figured--if she likes it, who else cares?

They had fun!

Going out on a limb . . . .

This Groupon came across my email yesterday and dh and I decided--what the heck?!--to buy it.  We have never taken dance lessons together before, although I took quite a few in college and dh dabbled in it then as well.

I bought the option that gives the two of us five group lessons. 

The best part is what has held us back for years--the girls are old enough to stay home with Grandma and so we don't have to worry about a babysitter. :-)

Driveway art by Sophia

Being prepared

source

No, this isn't me with my best canning buddy, although I hope I can find a great price on peaches this year so I can put up a few.  I'd love to have a canning buddy too, although Caroline is turning into one, so I may have a home-grown one from now on.

There is a trend in the United States to can--peaches, tomatoes, pickles, spaghetti sauce, jam, jelly, you name it.  It's exciting because I've been a canner all of my life.  Limited for the most part, but a canner nevertheless.

I've become a customer of Azure Standard through a buying club in my town.  I am a patron of our local Family Home Storage Center.  I keep my eyes open for opportunities to maintain, consume, and increase our home food storage.

Dh and I have a debt-reduction plan and are laying our debts to rest.

I want to be prepared for at least some of life's surprises.