Silhouettes

My neighborhood had a block party last weekend. It was a lovely event, and especially lovely because I feel like I don't know my neighbors as well as I should. Many of them were here before we were and have older children who grew up together. Plus we all have busy lives -- including me! -- and not that it is any excuse, but I think in modern society we tend to run in different circles beyond our neighbors.

Growing up, my neighborhood was a place where everyone knew everyone. It was a small dead-end street, with not a lot of homes, so it was easy to know everyone. And the kids were all pretty close in age, and we all attended a neighborhood school. We had picnics on summer holidays and played hide-and-go-seek in the connected backyards. We rode our bike on the street, and raked leaves for neighbors.

My parents still live there, as do some of the neighbors. But the street has changed. And the remaining residents are growing old.

Today, I don't let my daughter play alone much outside; I always have an eye on her out the window. I don't really want her riding her bike alone on the street; we live on a corner and I worry about crazy drivers. It is a different world for her. In many ways, not better; time has made me more paranoid.

But I still am a generally friendly person. I like knowing my neighbors, and it was nice to spend a little time, however distracted by my two toddlers growing impatient in their wagon! The block party was originally scheduled for a Saturday, but when bad weather was in the forecast, they switched it to Sunday, which meant my husband could not attend due to a scheduled golf outing. So I went alone, with three kids. I strapped the toddlers in the wagon, packed snacks and hoped for the best. They were not too bad, but it was hard at times to carry on adult conversations with sippy cups flying at my feet. And they took a spill on grassy hill when I let my oldest and a few neighborhood kids pull them around an open grassy area. Luckily neither was hurt!

The organizers of the block party hired a silhouette artist to make portraits of the children. It was so nice! And God bless her for still snipping away while the little ones squirmed in their seats. I give her credit for trying so hard. They came out pretty cute. I plan on framing them together with scrapbook paper behind them. I'll put them on my future family photo wall going up our stairs.

Hopefully our neighborhood block parties will not be too infrequent. I will look forward to the next one!

Sad Froggie House

I am not so gung-ho over our frogs anymore.

In fact, I'm kind of sad and annoyed all at the same time. A few weeks ago, one of our frogs died. I found him floating one morning, fished him out and had to break the news to Big Girl when she woke up. She was incredibly sad about it. She mourned on and off for days.

My pet frog solution -- getting these little frogs to ease over the "we don't have a pet" issue since our dog died last summer -- totally backfired. It's summer. Our dog died in the summer. Now this frog died in the summer. And why does everything die in the summer? she said... Which just happens to be around her birthday, she reminded me.

I was at a loss, other than to just say sometimes this happens. The frog wasn't well, likely. We can't help it.

I was sort of flabbergasted, because our friends with these little frogs have had them for years. And they seem to put less thought into their care than I did. We fed them religiously on the day they were to be fed. I watched the water for signs to change it. (My husband blames the air conditioning. Our downstairs AC just happens to be located in that room, but I don't keep it freezing -- it's set at 75 degrees. Should be OK, but who knows? My husband also thinks I was nuts for getting the frogs, since they are like goldfish and just set kids up for future disappointment. Like now! He was right! Darn husband.)

I sent the company an e-mail to ask if the remaining frog would be OK by himself. Big Girl was concerned, and frankly so was I -- would he die of loneliness? Do they need to be a "pair?" Should I clean the tank because I dead frog was in it?

A representative from the company wrote back with her sympathies, said he would be OK and as a precaution, to change the water, which I did. She also offered to send up another frog to the store were we bought it, and I told Big Girl that.

In the meantime, my daughter distanced herself from the whole situation. Avoided the dining room where the frog tank was, didn't want to practice piano which is in the same room, got a little cranky. So I rearranged the dining room and moved it to a less conspicuous location to try and eliminate the sad reminder.

Last week, she slightly panicked and wondered if the remaining frog was being fed because she had basically took herself out of the equation. (Yes, Mommy has been feeding him! And checking on him 40 times a day!) And she asked about getting that other frog, so I called the store to ask. The store said they had a frog I could have immediately if I wanted it, so I drove over, picked it up, and surprised Big Girl with it after dinner one night. We put him in the tank, and all was well.

Or so I thought.

Saturday night, I was heading to bed and I peeked in the dining room at the frog tank. (I always do, since the dead frog incident. I'm paranoid and a worry wart. Have you figured that out yet?)

And sure enough, one of them was belly up. On the bottom. I picked up the tank to see if he would move.

He didn't.

So less than a week after arriving at our house, our new frog (at least I think it's the new one because the live one hid in the corner and our old frog does that) kicked the bucket.

I dreaded telling Big Girl in the morning. She took it hard, but hopefully will recover faster. I told her that I researched the company and apparently frog loss is common at their headquarters and in their shipping process. And that PETA is always after them for not being the most caring frog company. (Her response: "Are PETA the ones that are always outside of the circus?" Why, yes! I explained that PETA can be a little extreme but also do some good sometimes too. Oh, these life lessons...)

So now we are a one-frog family, if I don't kill this one next by traumatizing him when I check to make sure he's still moving 40 times a day because he's hiding in the corner often. I'm telling you, this last little frog better live a longer life. At least until we get another dog to ease the pain.

Watermelon & Fireflies

I've been meaning to post all summer about this, but time got away from me! I'm a big fan of the blog Sugar Pie Farmhouse and its writer, known as Aunt Ruthie. It is a fabulous blog, with down home pictures and ideas. I just love it. I secretly wish Aunt Ruthie would post more often, but I'll take whatever I can get!

Aunt Ruthie has a sweet e-book called "Watermelon & Fireflies: 51 Farm Fresh Ideas for Celebrating the Good Ol' Summertime." The book is currently available at half-off it's regular price, but the deal expires tomorrow! So go over to this link to find out more and download your copy quick. (The information is toward the end of the blog post on the link.) This e-book will definitely make the rest of your summer fun, and you'll have it for next summer.

The book is full of ideas, recipes, lists and inspiration. I love it. Every page is a treasure!

I printed out my copy on cardstock and put in a pre-made plastic book with clear sleeves, which had the exact number of pages to keep my book in great shape for years to come.

Aunt Ruthie has said she has plans to create more seasonal e-books. I am looking forward to that :)

Green Acres

My husband bought a tractor.

Well, not exactly a tractor, but I'm calling it a tractor. It's a ride-on lawn mower. It's a John Deere, which is why I jokingly call it a tractor.

Here's the back story. We have a two push mowers. One is better than the other. The not-so-good one has lived under our deck in all the elements. The week of Big Girl's birthday party, hubby was mowing the lawn to prep the yard. (Now, he HATES mowing. He has back problems, and we have a big nasty hill to push that mower up in addition to the rest of the regular yard.) So, he's mowing, and suddenly the mower just jerks and dies.

Eeek!

We do need a new and better mower to make this job easier. Mowing is the bane of all of our existences in this house. Why? Because hubby mows on a weekend morning and then is shot for the rest of the day. Kaput. And then nothing else ever gets done and we don't do much and the day is wasted.

We had talked about looking into a new mower for next summer. One of our cars should be paid off in January, which will free up some funds that can finance a new and improved mower.

When our push mower broke, hubby had no choice but to try and repair it. Over the course of several days, he researched and took it apart and bought parts and fixed it. And what do you know, it worked! Meanwhile he was browsing on Craigslist and saw this ride-on mower. It was $50. It didn't even start.

"I know it's crazy, but I'm thinking of buying it," he said. "Do you mind?"

He said he thought he could figure out how to fix it. From what was described, and with the amount of reading he had done on lawn mowers for our push mower, he thought he might know what the problem was.

I told him to go for it. It was a gamble, but I'd rather see him throw $50 away on a lawn mower that would possibly work than in our local casino. It was a worth a shot. And he said he could sell it for parts if it didn't work out.

Now, I'm no dummy. I know this mower is going to cost us far more than $50. But have you priced ride-on mowers lately? Outrageous. And this thing is a John Deere. A John Deere, people! At least it's a quality brand, right?

So now I have a disemboweled lawn tractor in my garage, grease and oil everywhere, and a husband stooped over an iPad reading a service manual nightly as he deconstructs and reconstructs a lawn mower engine.

He's a smart boy. I have faith he'll figure it out. And my husband will be happier mowing the lawn and the rest of us will be happy because of it.

Finding a Treasure!

I took Big Girl to the library this week for a free program, and on the way out we stopped in its used bookstore. I love this little place because you can always find something for practically nothing, and the stock changes all the time because library patrons are always dropping off used books.

On this visit, we actually found a treasure: Big Girl stoops down and grabs a book out of a bin and says "Mom, look!"

There is was, The Little House Coookbook, in all its glory! And at the bargain price of only $2. This book has been on my wishlist for a while, but I wasn't willing to pay full price for it just yet. Now I don't have to because of my bargain-hunting ways.

After browsing through the pages, I am definitely glad to have this in my Little House library. The book is more than just a cookbook; it goes into great detail about food in the era, how they cooked it, and the recipes are true to the time, with substitutions for modern cooks -- I don't exactly have lard on hand, but I do have butter!

It has recipes for most dishes and meals mentioned in the books. There's Fried Salt Pork with Gravy -- remember how the Ingalls family seemed to eat salt pork constantly? I always wondered how they never died of heart attacks at 25 years old, but I guess they didn't eat all the other fat we do today. Big Girl and I were grocery shopping once and I came across a package of salt pork. The two of us stood in the meat aisle for a long time marveling at it. Weird, I know, but it was the first time I ever recalled seeing it anywhere.

The book even has a recipe for "Long Winter Bread," the bread that the family ate so they wouldn't starve. It even includes instructions on how to grind your wheat in a coffee grinder.

You can also find how to make Ma's green pumpkin pie, which Pa though was apple pie. And Vanity Cakes, which Ma made for the girl's country party with Nellie Oleson. There are dozens of recipes, and it would make a great companion while reading through the series -- you could cook and bake chapter by chapter. The cookbook also borrows Garth Williams charming illustrations and features excerpts from the book throughout its pages. I am so looking forward to reading through this one.

We also found this book:

I've actually had this book on my Amazon wishlist because I thought about getting it for Big Girl after reading the Little House books. It has a story about a pioneer family, and is interspersed with snippets about pioneer life. There are a lot of little things in this book that overlap with Laura Ingalls Wilder's stories. Big Girl didn't as excited about this one -- she's more into Greek mythology and Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson books right now -- but I'm holding on to it for myself. Who knows? Maybe in my old age, I'll be a Laura scholar and run Little House programs at schools and libraries. Or write a book.

 

This book was also $2, so I didn't mind splurging $4 on both books even though the budget is very, very tight for our family this month. I had four dollar bills in my pocket so it must have been a sign.

The moral of the story is this: Always take a minute to browse in a used book store. You never know what you will find!

Big Top Cupcake!

A few years ago, Big Girl was fascinated by the "Big Top Cupcake" infomercial. I finally indulged her whim and found the silicone baking pans at a local Rite Aid pharmacy in the "As Seen on TV" aisle.

We haven't used it a great deal, but we did pull it out this past weekend. We had a small family birthday party for her on Sunday, and although I had leftover cupcakes from her "friend" party, I wanted to make a little cake for her celebration. I asked her if she watned a big cupcake, and she said yes.



Our giant Poseidon on waves cupcake.
Primitive decorating but homemade with love.

The kit is simple enough to use. For Sunday's giant cupcake, I only used one cake mix, which makes a smaller cake. Ideally, you would need two cake mixes, but you then only put 2/3 of that batter into the molds. (The rest can make extra cupcakes.)
Here's a few other giant cupcakes I've made. Here's the first time we made one: chocolate cake, with buttercream icing, and we used the filling insert to fill it with icing and sliced strawberries.

First attempt at a big cupcake, just for fun. (2010)

Not long after, I made a "barn" cupcake for my nephew's birthday, which had a farm theme. I think it turned out so cute:

"Barn" giant cupcake for my nephew's 1st birthday. It came out so cute!

There are so many ways you can decorate the giant cupcake. I searched on Pinterest for a few ideas that I may re-create in the future. How about an Elmo cupcake?

Source: catchmyparty.com via Kellie on Pinterest

Or a cupcake-on-cupcake?

Source: par-ty.com via Kellie on Pinterest

Or a Christmas tree:

Source: genii-cupcakes.co.uk via Kellie on Pinterest

I do love the Christmas tree!

The twins' birthday is in December, and I'm thinking two big cupcakes might in order for their party. I like it when they have their own cakes, so perhaps we will have two different giant cupcakes. One for each.

Garden Harvest

The veggie garden season is in full swing now, with veggies ready to pick. Peapod Farm has hit a few road bumps this year -- my poor zucchini is not happy nor thriving, and neither are my peppers. My pickling cukes are almost done, but I have and continue to have a batch of green beans.

My tomatoes always seem to pull through and flourish, which is a blessing since we are a major tomato-eating family. I often laugh at the stories of canning tomatoes because ours would never make it to that stage. They disappear pretty quick because my husband and kids snack on them, or I make tomato/cucumber salad to have with dinner.

Next year, I think Peapod Farm is in for an overhaul. I need to buy some weed barrier to put down before I plant, and I might even move the entire thing because watering it is a pain in the neck. We'll see... Next spring is a long time away, and we still have the winter months to dream about gardens and plants and plans.