One Down, Two To Go

Mitch just finished up a great baseball season!

He and his team had a great year, only loosing once during the regular season.

Last night was a close game and Mitch made the winning hit.

Tonight they came in third in the county tournament. 

Mitch made some great hits to the outfield, with the high-light being a triple.

(His coach kept him at third, but all of us sitting there thought he really could have made it home for a home run. booo hissss  j/k...kinda)

Anyway, we finished up a couple games earlier than we would have liked, but third place is fun too, and the trophy looks great on his dresser.

Hooray for Mitch!  You had a great season!

Want Some Cheese with that Whine?

So, school is out for the summer.  The kids did great, as usual, and they are happy for the break.  Josie & Todd still get up early to go work at Wenger's fields picking berries to earn some cash, and baseball has us hopping every night of the week, but other than that, we are just taking one day at a time.

Tonight I am going over in my mind what things I've learned this past school year. 
Well.........

1.  You can drive your kids to school without combing your hair and still wearing your pajamas.

2.  Moving three times in one year helps you get real picky about buying anything.

3.  Not 100% sure food storage is really a blessing.  (j/k - It's more of a love/hate relationship.  Food is heavy and we hate moving it/Food is yummy and we keep buying it.)

4.  Don't buy a swim suit in a flesh color. (Yes, we are spending a lot of time at the city pool to break out of our 'sumemr cottage'.  This color choice is bad.)

5.  Don't trust spoiled people with money issues.

6.  Doing laundry at the laundromat isn't all that bad.  Where else can you do 6 + loads in 2 hours?  (LOVE THAT!)

7.  There is a point when a person can get too old to stay up late. Now that we've got to get Josie to seminary by 5:30 a.m. it just kills me.  I say 'we' loosely, because Layne takes her there on his way to work, and then I go get her a hour later.  But I do get up and get breakfast, lunch made, etc.  So, technically I'm up.  (And then down again, but I don't need to go into all those details.) 

8.  Sometimes it is okay (and even good) to let things drop and move on with life.  But sometimes it is okay to stand up for what is right and just.  And if I'm in a bad mood, that usually helps motivate me.  (Just ask a teacher or two.  Layne told a friend the other day that this isn't the year to make Cassie mad.  PLEASE don't tick her off!)

9.  You can get a well balanced meal at a concession stand.  You may also need to drink prune juice at some point in your week, but it all works out.  (No pun intended.)

10. It pays to find the right people to build your house.  (We're really enjoying working with the Miller's.)

11.  Integrity means something and I want to always work hard at having some.

12.  Elementary school age children love it when you eat lunch with them at school.  Middle school aged ones DON'T.  (I didn't try high school.)

13.  Eggs cook much nicer on lower temps than high.  (Just a strange fact.  I bought $12 worth of friend chicken today and $12 of frozen chicken at the same time.)

14.  I can (and did) drive across the county by myself (with four kids).

15.  If you clench your teeth long enough your jaw will hurt and you will crack some teeth.  (This does not, however, result in any major weight loss.)

I'm sure there is much more that I've learned and I know that there is much much more I didn't mention.  Maybe for another time.  But tonight I'm pooped out and I'm heading to bed. 

For those that have asked; here is a pic of the house.  This is a couple days old.  Now all the walls are done and wrapped in it's pretty house wrap. And the shingles are going on tomorrow.  Yea!

Here is Judd (I don't know what is wrong with his face) at the window in the livingroom looking out at the back of the property.

Good Night!

The Dinner Diva

About 10 years ago I found Leanne Ely, AKA the Dinner Diva, though the Fly Lady.  She is having a contest right now and one way to to register for the prize (a Kitchen Aid mixer) is to post this information on my blog.  Here is her latest news letter about buying local food.  Something I believe in and enjoy. 
(As for her website and her products, I love the "for the freezer" meal kit packages she has.)

Food For Thought

Buying Local Produce

By Leanne Ely, C.N.C.

Dear Friends,

You've probably heard me talk about how buying local produce is good for you, but do you know why it is good for you?

1) It tastes better

Local produce tastes better because it is allowed to ripen longer before harvest. Most of the produce in your local grocery store is harvested before full ripeness, irradiated, among other treatments, which affects not only taste, but nutrient content as well.

2) It's fresher

Local produce has just been picked; it hasn't been sitting around in a warehouse waiting for pickup and then traveling thousands of miles to get to your local grocery store.

3) It is healthier

Due to the treatments mentioned above, the nutrient content in store bought produce is a lot lower than in locally grown and harvested produce. Our soil is suffering from nutritional depletion; this makes it even more imperative to find produce that has not been treated and is fully ripened before harvest.

4) It costs less

Local produce costs less than its equal counterpart in the grocery store. In some cases, you may pay more per pound for a tomato at a farmer's market than the grocery store. But in the long run it is still cheaper because that tomato will taste better and pack more nutrition per pound which will massively impact your health.

5) It helps the economy

Shopping locally for anything helps your local economy improve, but shopping with your local farmers will assist to keep a precious resource around for a long time to come. Local farmers are an important part of our economy and keeping them in business helps us all.

6) The food is safer

Three words-food borne illnesses. Those three words are another reason why shopping with local farmers is critical. Just recently sprouts, spinach and Romaine lettuce were all recalled for food borne illness. Bigger does not always mean better. Bigger is harder to control than smaller. You are far more likely to get sick from a corporate farm than from your local mom and pop farm.

Love,

Leanne

Your Dinner Diva at your service

WANT TO USE MY ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE?

You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:

Copyright (C) 2010 www.savingdinner.com Leanne Ely, CNC All rights reserved.

Grandma Fernie

Happy 84th Birthday, Grandma!

          This is Fern, my beautiful grandma. 
I was blessed with the greatest.  She loves to have parties, keep busy, and eat candy.  She raised six beautiful girls, and our family keeps growing each year.

My Aunt Grace is so nice to host the Hen & Chick's party each year. 

(My cousin Becca made these little cake chicks.  They were DARLING and very yummy. 

She is one talented little chick!)

As you can guess, my grandma is the hen & all the rest of us girls are her chicks.  We do keep the age limit to 18 because once in a while a subject will come up that may be rated PG for little girls.  This is the first year that I was able to attend.  I had a fantastic time.  We were missing a few chicks, but when you are trying to get that many people together all at once it is tough.  Most of the missing were able to call in and talk and hear the party.  My Aunt Millie was even able to Skype from Brazil.  So she also got to see us in action. 

Look at all of these amazing women.  You can usually tell who was born in the family and who married in the family, cause we're a little goofy.  But a good goofy.  Nonetheless, we all love eachother just the same.  We have all been shaped & molded in one way or another by Grandma. 

You're the best, Grandma.

True Love

Jay & Lucy

Married 37 Years, June 2nd

10 Kids (we all got married)

12 Grandkids + more to come

Thank you for teaching us:

*how to be honest & responsible
*to love the Lord and be active in our church

*how to have fun

*to love history and learning

*how to work as a couple

*to respect our elders

*how to work

*to take a break for T.V. time and movies

*if one paint color doesn't work there is always another

*to make good friends

*sometimes you can't have everything

*how important family is

*getting rid of 'clutter' now & then is good

*to notice others needs

*love life

What a blessing in my life!

Much love to you both!

Bonus to Living in the City

Moving to the "City" wasn't on our list of things to do this year.

But here are some things we've enjoyed in the past month of our latest adventure as city dwellers.

1.  At noon, everyday, the city REMINDS me to eat.  The siren goes off at the fire station and now this sound prompts me to drive to the nearest McDonald's, ASAP.

2.  I see Louie Vito's parents a lot more often now that I live closer to their house and use the same grocery store.  Judy Vito was one the very first people I ever met when I moved here 16 years ago.  Wow, I've lived around here for a long time. 
(photo by abc)

3.  We have a friendly neighborhood.  Some neighbors have come over to introduce themselves.  We meet others by getting notices in the mail that a sex offender has moved in down the street.

4.  Street lamps come in handy.  People mow the lawn at all hours.  Even after dark. 

5.  We've been able to go over colors, quantity, and sorting skills with our five year old.  You can only use certain colored bags to throw the garbage, certain number of garbage cans, and you quickly find that it pays to sort the garbage and recycle as much as possible so you don't have to pay for more garbage.

So here are just a few of our experiences.  I may have others to share later.