On Tuesday, our church had a huge event for National Neighborhood Night Out. Michaela, and our young friend, loved the fire truck. There was a classic car show and Michaela was especially interested in that, as well. So was Jake. Rob and I took the kids because they really wanted to attend! We took friends for the kids because it’s just more fun for everyone:)
There were bounce houses, a puppet show, hot dogs and chips, a dunk tank, many other games, unlimited snow cones (Go Jake!–he more than ate his share), and many, many other super fun things to do. We were blessed to be able to attend and the kids and their friends had a ball. It was fun to see so many of the neighborhood families turn out, as well.
Patsy was away at camp. I tried to come up with some fun for Jake so he wouldn’t miss her so much. On Wednesday, Rob took him to the $1 movies. They watched a cartoon about Penguins, then went to the library to turn in the final form for summer reading.
On Thursday, these kids, plus Jake and 2 more, all joined up at the Gilbert House Childrens’ Museum. My friend and I ran herd on all 8 of them, fed them a picnic lunch, and had a great day. We were able to use her pass, and my OMSI one ( reciprocal ), so admission was free for all 10 of us. Patsy and her friends returned home from camp that afternoon. Friday, we grocery shopped and then just chilled. She was SO tired.
Her camp involved camping in a field for several nights, and spending the days river rafting down the Deschutes River, plus the usual Bible studies, meals, group sings, etc. that are the norm at church camp. It was another wonderful opportunity for her.
I cooked up a lot of pink beans. They took a while, since they have been around a long time, but they turned out nicely. I’m going to make more frozen burritos and freeze some for quick meals for Patsy especially, as she loves, loves, loves them. My garden has been producing like crazy, so I’ve been picking and preserving that.
I used the rest of the container of beans to make refried beans. I need some for an upcoming event, and then will freeze the rest. This huge pot will be gone in an amazingly short period of time, and then I’ll make more from the traditional pinto beans. They all work!
These white carnations were in a bouquet I received last week. The rest of the flowers went bad, so I just got some zinnias from the garden and revived the bouquet. I love it! On my birthday, I was spoiled rotten by my sisters, nice, nephew and Mom taking me out for breakfast, then Rob took me for a drive to the coast. We just drove along, stopping where we wished and eating odds and ends when we wanted to. It was relaxing. After that, a friend dropped by with goodies….what more can I say? It was a great birthday.
I pulled up any beets that had any size to them and made several jars of pickled beets. I canned green beans, and most of my bushes are done. I’m ok with that. I’ve got quite a few jars now, and need to move on to other projects. I will likely freeze any odds and ends that still grow on the one remaining very short row as there won’t be enough to fill a canner.
Zucchini anyone? I’m running out of people willing to take it…….It’s like Bubba in Forest Gump, but with zucchini…..zucchini pickles, zucchini bread, zucchini relish, baked zucchini………….. All joking aside, it’s a huge blessing that the garden is doing so well.
We’ve been discussing a big change for Patsy for a long time now, and have finally come to a decision. She has asked to be homeschooled and we have decided to give it a year and see how it goes. So, I’ve been going through curriculum I already own, ordering used books to fill in the rest, and a few new ones when I couldn’t get them used. Everything is here now, and I’ve spent literally hours organizing it, laying out the plan, and we’ve actually done a little school already, since she is excited. After all, anything done while in a good mood is still done when cold season strikes and all she feels like is laying around….I like to plan my own schedule anyway and get done earlier than the schools around here do. I’m planning quite a few field trips for her, as that is something she has missed out on. They just don’t do many in the public schools around here anymore. Of course, there is a huge pile of books waiting for her as well!
I went through all my remaining school supplies and didn’t need anything except some tape and a couple of mechanical pencils. So, I passed up all the super good sales this time.
I got a lot of groceries this week, and shopped the loss leaders. There was butter for $1.99/lb, lunchmeat for $1.99/package, milk for 99c/1/2 gallon, tortillas for 99c/package, and many more. It took a lot of thinking, but I got a lot of groceries for my money.
How did your week go? Were you able to stay thrifty, even though you were busy?
I was in a cooking mood this weekend. I knew I had butter in the freezer but didn’t know how many. I hadn’t been rotating it properly because it was buried but I knew there were some older ones in there. Turns out I had seven pounds but three were dated May 2017. They’d been frozen since I bought them but I was worried whatever I cooked with them would taste rancid or bad. I took a chance anyway and the snickerdoodles came out just fine. I won’t be doing that again, I was praying I wasn’t wasting the other ingredients.
I’m glad the butter was ok! I have to really watch it so things don’t get buried in the chest freezer, especially. Every so often, I find I’ve neglected something until it’s too far gone, but most of the time, I can use the item in some way.
Snickerdoodles sound really yummy right now. I’ll bet you enjoyed them.
Sounds like a great week. I enjoyed homeschooling just one the little I did that but I know what you mean about the excitement wearing off. I was as bad as the kids when we were in the trenches of the year. After 23 years I was ready to be done! Three of our grandchildren started back to homeschooling this morning.
We had a very expensive week with a $2700 car repair. We had a plumber out to give us an estimate on replacing our tub with a shower and were shocked at the $5000 estimate for a fiberglass unit or $8000 for tile. We passed on that after the car repair. No grocery deals here but we only needed the essentials so we didn’t even look for deals. Some weeks that is just a good thing.
Good grief! I’m very sorry for those horribly expensive repairs you need!
I’m glad you enjoyed the homeschooling you did. I’ve loved part and didn’t love other parts, but am planning some fun stuff to make myself more enthusiastic about having another year or more!
I’ve been giving away cucumbers and squash here too. I”m going to need to do some canning this week though, as there are more than I can give away.
My freezer is a black hole. Every time I think I’m making headway, we fill them up again, and I can’t find anything. I’m not sure what will help. Maybe I can work on a drawer/shelf at a time when the weather gets cool.
I feel like my housecleaning jobs are like little squirrels! I catch one and do it, then 14 more squirm out from under my notice. My freezer is needing serious work again, too! Good luck getting yours cleaned out:)
Belated Happy Birthday, Becky! Sounds like a restful day! Good for you to homeschool Pasty even after you were so excited to be finished. I’m sort of if the same situation; my DD Lizzie, 16, was so excited to be going to a charter school that offers dual enrollment classes. After the first day she said (through tears) she really doesn’t want to be gone so many hours (10 including the bus ride) 5 days a week. (Her older brother is going off to college, so too many changes all at once for her.) So I’ll be home schooling her a couple days a week, and she’ll be there 3 days/week , only for the college level classes. Back to the drawing board–or white board 🙂
Thanks! You know, we all just keep plugging away trying to do what’s best for each kid:). Your daughter’s first schedule sounds grueling. I don’t blame her for not wanting that schedule. That would be way too much for me, too! I think one thing that helped me was that I’ve homeschooled so much in the past that I at least feel like I know how. It’s nice not to have to be new at it anymore, that’s for sure. I’m just trying to figure out how, exactly, I’m going to keep up with all that I will need to accomplish….Only with God’s help, I know.
I am so glad Patsy wants to be homeschooled and that you are willing to do the work. I learned more teaching my boys than I ever did in school. Homeschoolers never seem to stop learning. It becomes a part of their life.
Jeannie@GetMeToTheCountry
I have learned a lot over the years:)
Happy belated birthday! Sounds like a lovely way to celebrate!
Brings back a fun mother’s day memory for me, I had asked to go on a drive on the Blue Ridge parkway and take a picnic lunch. Well the kids were in charge of packing lunch, so we had potato chips, m&ms and dr pepper, and dh packed some fried chicken. 😀
Definitely one of my more memorable mother’s days.
I’m sure that Patsy will do well with home schooling, and I think it is great! What grade is she in now? Glad she had fun at camp, and the fire truck event sounds fun.
Hope you have a great week.
That’s a great Mother’s Day lunch! Go kids:)
Patsy is going to be in 10th grade this year.
Happy Birthday. It sounds like you had a wonderful day.
I did! Thank you.