Fall is here.  I got much enjoyment this week looking at the gorgeous fall colors that are appearing all over.

2 days after taking the other picture, Alissa’s dog pulled her down the slope beside the same tree!  I guess you could call it a free slide?  A free fair ride?  Either way, she was unhurt, laughing, and I hauled her up the hill, safe and sound.

My aunt gave me this vase.  It complements the different wood tones in our house, but is not made to fill with water.  An insert would need to be used if water was put in it.    I put some fall-themed silk leaves and flowers in it.  I got them from the $ store so it made an inexpensive fall decoration.  Later, I can put some other flowers or decorations in it for different seasons

I made lasagna, spaghetti, teriyaki chicken, salads with lettuce from our garden and purchased lettuce, used 2 green onions from our garden, rice, and more.  I’ve started using up a LOT of home-canned and home-frozen foods, with the idea of finishing up what I have during this winter so I can can fresh next summer.

I used a gift card I had at Bob’s Red Mill and got one-to-one flour, tapioca flour, potato starch and other items I use in my gluten-free baking.

I used the rest of my October grocery budget on a trip to Costco.  I bought a few cases of food to keep my stockpile up, including pineapple and manderin oranges.  I got butter for a little over $2 per pound (bought a 4-pack), a huge bag of corn chips, large bag of broccoli, mushrooms,  brown and white sugar, and some treats like jalepeno-artichoke dip and chocolate chips.  I feel great about what I got for my money and am stocked up for the week, as well as some stockpile items.

We’ve been building fires most days to heat the house up.  Today, a friend delivered a trailer of wood he cut and saved from our old house!  How thoughtful and kind.  We will unload and stack it this week and return his trailer next week.

I will pack lunches for Patsy and Rob as usual this week and have some menu plans involving  a ham that was in the freezer.  I’m going to attempt to make Brazilian Cheese Bites.  They were out of my budget at Costco–$12.99 for 64 pieces.  I found a recipe and hope that they turn out.  I’ll let you know!

I found the cutest “bug” recipe on Taste of Home.com–it’s called “Mounds of Bugs” and made a great project for Jake.

I really wanted to do this project with him, but did not want to break the bank.  I bought 1 bag of Mounds mini candy bars, and did not use them all.  I bought a few Six-let candies and M and M candies from the bulk section at Win-Co, instead of bags of each.  Instead of the curved pretzels called for in the recipe, I used some stick pretzels I had already instead of buying the curved ones called for in the recipe.

Ja’Ana and Alissa spent Thursday afternoon making caramel corn for the 4H bake sale.  Patsy, J and A all went to the event on Saturday, and helped sell the baked goods from many clubbers around the county.  While they were there, they made Chex Muddy Buddies to help the wonderful smells to fill the hall, then sold the Muddy Buddies.  The money helps buy ribbons and other supplies during the fair, and some other great uses.  I felt great about our contribution.  Everything the girls took sold, and they were able to raise almost $60 just on what they brought.  I don’t know how much was made, but I was told it can top $1,000 and sometimes reach $2,000.  I was amazed.  It was a great start to our 4H year.  They worked hard in the wind and the rain, and I treated them to the $5 lunch at Dairy Queen afterwards.  I don’t know why, but our family usually gravitates to DQ for casual special occasions.  I think it must be the ice cream–we love it!

I finally went shopping.  I spent a bunch, but stayed in budget.  I’m really stocked up on lunch supplies, veggies, etc.  Now that Rob is working, we run out of lunch meat sooner than before.  That’s a great reason to have to buy more!  Even though school lunches aren’t very expensive, we save money each time he packs one instead of buying one.

I took the cousins and my kids to the YMCA to swim on Friday, as no one had school.  The director of membership had graciously let us put the cousins on our account when we signed up because Rob told him they were with us so much, so all the kids got in with the membership.  Alissa brought a friend, and I was fully prepared to pay for her, but they said she could be our guest that day.  Wow!  They had fun!  I did too.  It was fun to use my old van to its full potential.

When Jake was trying to negotiate his way to McD’s, I ran into Safeway and bought granola bars and Capri Suns for the kids to eat and not “starve to death” before we went to my house,  saving a bundle.  I figured that with 8 people, it would be between $45 and $60 to eat lunch that way.  I am happy to report that they all survived until they got to my house and ate!

We have been sleeping on a pair of old sheets since the move.  The same pair.  And it ripped in 2 places because it is so old.  BUT, we knew we had more in the shop.  AND, we knew we had seen them.   We could not find them and became stubborn and would not go buy more.  Just because.  So, we were sleeping in torn sheets.  Pretty sad.  Rob spent a couple of hours going through bins this afternoon and….drum roll, please….he found them!  So, it’s sleeping in the lap of luxury tonight.

Our electric bill is much, much lower than it was at our old house, probably due to the reduction in size.

Our camper has been repaired, under warranty, and we now have a new air conditioner. Despite a huge rain/wind storm, Rob was able to move it back to my sister’s farm before it got too windy.

We’ve built a fire a few times, now.  I’m looking at another rainy, cozy week here this week.  Bring on the homeschool. It’s time to teach those girls how to make soup and they are going to cut out their aprons.  It will be a great week.

There are things in the garden that I plan to pick this week.  I’m especially excited about the boc choi.   I enjoy it in stir-fry and chicken soup.  I think I’ll make both, as my sister brought some from the farm garden as well.  It has been pouring rain, but I think we have a couple of dry days now, so hopefully, I can carve out enough daylight hours to get out to the garden for a bit.

My sister also brought potatoes, onions, squash, and other produce from the garden.  It’s coming to an end with all the rain, but we sure have harvested a lot this summer.

We have been crazy busy around here.  On Saturday, Rob rounded up a couple of friends and we got the freezers moved.  I cannot tell you how nice it is to have my food all in one place!  We spent most of the day moving them, and organizing the food.  Now I know what I have to work with.

He immediately thawed and barbecued a turkey.  We found we still had 4 of the ones he raised last year.  We were only remembering 2, so it was a nice surprise.  Now I’ve got turkey bits for casseroles and sandwiches, and broth.  Some I will use right away, and some will be frozen.  I also will take turkey on Sunday for family Sunday dinner.

We also found a lot of steak, so enjoyed a nice dinner with friends on Sunday night and feasted on steak. It was so good to see them and since Rob barbecued, it was an easy mess-free dinner.  We cooked green beans and baked potatoes and my friend brought dessert.   It took me a little bit to figure out how exactly I was going to navigate the new house with company, as it was the first time, but we figured it out, everyone had a seat to sit on, and we had a blast catching up with our friends.  And…..there’s still more steak.  Every fall, we buy beef from a farmer and we did not use as much this summer as usual because we had difficulty accessing it.  Clearly, when we did, we grabbed hamburger:)  The new beef will be coming, and so we need to use the old up.  I don’t feel sorry for us!

I’ve been packing lunches for both Patsy and Rob.  I took one with J and I when we went to my dr. appointment on Friday as well.  Not only is this frugal, but I seem to get so sick when I eat fast food anymore, that it’s just better all around for me. (You never know if a little wheat got in there, and I react so much to it) I was able to combine errands that day, since it was all the way up in Portland.

We continue to go to the YMCA and exercise.  The girls are getting into their dance classes.  I still have a little more dance wear to buy for Patsy, but will probably order it on-line.  The items I bought at Walmart on clearance for only $2-7 are working  fine and have not fallen apart yet.  (I wondered for $2-3 shirts and shorts)  Patsy has basically grown out of her swim suit, but I am having her wear those nylon shorts over it right now and will continue to scour the internet for a good price for a new one.

I am keeping busy with homeschool.  My niece, Alissa, is joining Ja’Ana in homeschool and that is going well.  Her parents will be taking on some subjects and I will do others.

Rob really likes the people he is working with at his new job.  The kids are pretty hard to handle, so he’s on a big learning curve.  Yesterday, for instance, he got punched multiple times, stomped on, and punched in the face, hard.  The little guy he was specifically hired for really struggles, and Rob is finding out that he may be moved to another school where they can help him better.  Rob would need to move, too.  He isn’t super excited as he just got started at this school, but that is how it works here.  We will see what happens.  Today is the first day where he will go to the kid’s house and ride the bus to school with him.  We are super glad he has the job, and hopefully, it will smooth out as everyone gets into routines.

I was able to use my crock pots several times this week.  This was the start of a beef stew.  I used the leftover roast beef from last week, along with the rest of the baby carrots in a bag.  I added onion, celery, potatoes, beef broth, thyme, salt and pepper. I put in a little garlic salt, also.   I can’t find my home-canned tomatoes yet, but thankfully, I was able to find a purchased can on the shelf.  So, I put that in, along with the leftover cooked potatoes and carrots from when I cooked the roast. It came out amazing. I was pleased because it was so tasty, and used up a lot of things out of the fridge.

I made a lot of pinto beans into meals where they will be used (or already got eaten).

We got at least 1/2 of the home-canned jars onto shelves.  We’ve already been into the pears, fruit cocktail, broth and raspberries.

There was a huge thunderstorm, including tons of rain and hail.  The drains filled on the streets on the way home from church and it was wild with the lightening, thunder and standing water.  I wasn’t surprised to see that the small lettuce, boc choi, etc. in the garden were pulverized.  I’m hoping the nice weather we are now having will give the plants  a chance of perk up a bit and that I might still get something.

I emptied an almost empty bottle of ketchup into another one to get every drop.

I filled the compost bucket several times and poured it onto a compost pile we are starting.

Jake and I got a lot of mileage out of a boxed cake and some old candles.  I must point out that it is NO one’s birthday.  He was just in the mood.

I am enjoying my new job very much, because I get to spend so much time with the kids.  On Friday, I took Alissa, Ja’Ana and Michaela  for some French fries Friday after school to
celebrate their hard work in school.  Ja’Ana and I went to an appointment on Thursday, after toiling diligently for weeks, and now she has the grades, credits, etc. properly recorded for last year’s homeschool work.  Alissa and I have worked for hours on her homework after school in the last 2 weeks and she is trying so hard.  I know Michaela is doing what her teachers are asking her to do at school.  So, it was fun to celebrate with all 3 of them in the short time before Jake came home.  Sometimes I know these kids do not always get the credit for how hard they work for everything.  Although school is easier for some than others, it is very hard for all of them.  I want to keep encouraging.

Today, for our family Sunday lunch, my sister asked me to make Caprice salad.  I’ve never made it before, but I get to the house first.  As I was leaving church, she said, “just slice up some tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and basil and put it on a plate.”  I love how it looks.  I couldn’t help snapping a picture.  I put some salt and pepper on top, but have a suspicion that it should have some Italian dressing or something on top.  Thankfully, she will be home soon and can instruct me!

We are having soup and salad bar for lunch today.  I made us each a huge pot of chicken-rice soup this week.  At our house, we’ve had it 3-4 times.  I think they did the same.  Today, we are going to finish up both pots.  It is very yummy and economical.  She boiled last Sunday’s chicken to get her broth, and I used some I had previously frozen for mine. Our meals have at last slipped into the pattern I like–the pattern where I cook each day, or we eat leftovers, but where we are not living on a diet of fast food as we were for a time this past summer while we were in transition.  I still don’t have my freezers at my house, just the little one over the fridge, so Rob keeps doing “meat/frozen veggie” runs for me and we keep refilling it.  I am going to make a menu plan for the first time in a long time this week–it will help so much since I am spending several hours per day homeschooling Ja’Ana, helping Patsy with homework, and have started a new part-time job.

We started doing DD service work for my nephew.  Now that he is back to school, and my sister and brother-in-law are back into the swing of things with their jobs, they need Personal Support Workers to help care for him.  We also do a few hours for my niece, but most of the time needed is for our nephew.   This is a part-time job that involves helping him practice some skills, such as hygiene, safety in crossing parking lots, proper social interaction, and other goals.  I am doing the most hours, because Rob is still hunting for a full-time job.  (Last count, he has applied for over 50, has had 6 interviews, and still…..no job!  We’ve been told over and over that the way to get into this school system is to become a substitute, and so he has signed up for that and is waiting for the training day.  He wants to work in a special needs classroom as he has a lot of experience with children with special needs.  People are being very encouraging to him, so that’s good.)

He is also madly working on any and all projects around our new house, such as building new canning cupboards, since he anticipates his time will become scarce once he gets a job.  We are also spending lots and lots of time with all 3 cousins–might as well get to enjoy them all, instead of only one.  Fun!  I’m happy that we will have a little money coming in.  It will stretch the savings we have a little longer, which is a good thing!  I am still adjusting to the schedule, but this week will be easier since it won’t be new anymore.  I cannot imagine how hard it would be to take on this task for a totally new family–I’m glad we all know and love each other already!

I weeded my little fall garden and we got a good, steady rain.  Those little plants look so much happier.

We are officially living in our house now:)  It’s been a wild week.  We have been working on the house daily, and having the plumbers and electricians work on it, too.  Finally, on Thursday night, we had enough beds up, and the new electrical panel in so it was safe to sleep there, and so we did!

My food storage is set up.  I found–ummm-probably about 50-75 pounds of various dry beans among other things!  So, I promptly made chili for the crew that was bringing more furniture and boxes down on Saturday.  Rob got some hot dogs and we served chili dogs and fruit to the crew for lunch.

We are so grateful to the large group of friends and family who showed up to help.  I’m super excited–the piano is in!  Both Ja’Ana and I have spent quite a bit of time playing–it’s been a long summer without it:)  I know piano movers are very expensive, so we were grateful for all the strong arms.

My little lettuce, onions, spinach, snow peas, beets, carrots and chard all came up.  It took a lot of watering in the heat, but they are starting to grow now. I think since the first is usually around mid-late October, I have a great chance of getting some food.  The Walla Walla onions should winter over, as should some of the other things.  There are a LOT of weeds in the dirt, so I spent some time hoeing yesterday.

I’ve been able to grab lots of ingredients that were in bins since May and work on using them up.  I will keep most of the canning in the shop, and carry more in when I need to.  I’ve been able to use quite a few jars of home-canned things up this week, which makes me happy since it was in boxes all summer.