Let's all go picking....

On Wednesday, my mom, the kids and I went blueberry picking at Mountain View Blueberry farm. I love this farm, this is our second year going. For us, it is close, only 15 minutes away, and I can't see the sense of driving an hour to pick fruit....that is no savings! Actually, we figured out that the frozen blueberries at Costco are cheaper per pound than the u-pick, but then you don't get all the lovely fresh ones :) So far we have had big bowls of plain blueberries, blueberry pancakes and blueberry muffins are on the baking plan for today! Blueberries are one of my favorite fruits and they are always too pricey for me in the store. I plan on going again next week to replenish my stash of fresh. We picked 11 pounds and I put one gallon-size bag in the freezer so far.

I really like taking the kids to see where food comes from...ok so everyone says this now, but it is important. Really, even when we have driven an hour out to a farm, it has been worth it. Last year when we went out to a pumpkin patch, they had a mini petting zoo and a hay bale maze/playground in a barn that the kids loved. Here is a link to WA state pick your own farms : http://www.pickyourown.org/WA.htm. I had no idea there were blueberry farms in Bellevue! And of course, supporting our local food producers is very important too.

So, if you are looking for a great activity, maybe pack a picnic lunch and head out to a farm to for some u-pick artichokes :)

Meal Planning

I was wondering what you all did for meal planning. Any methods, hints, or creative ideas?

I've tried various plans in the past months, some of which have worked better than others. This month I decided to do something new. As the start of our new pay period approached (we each get paid about every two weeks) I searched cookbooks and scoured the web for recipes that looked completely delicious, totally awesome, and made my husband excited too. I chose about ten main recipes, made an ingredients list from them, and added a few easy ones in as well (i.e. Trader Joe's Orange Chicken, frozen enchiladas and taquitos, and organic mac and cheese) for lunches or days when I didn't have time (or motivation) to cook. I wrote the final list of about 20 meals (including the easy ones) on a piece of computer paper and posted it on our fridge.

This method has done two things for us. One, the anticipation of awesome food made the slightly crappier meals at the end of the pay period easier to handle. Two, it has made cooking and eating a more collaborative experience for us. We like looking at the sheet together and deciding what to eat each night. Okay, I might enjoy this activity slightly more than Charlie, but he's a good sport about it.

Anyway, I'd be really interested to know what has worked for you!

Means of Grace

Thanks to the Flylady, my kitchen sink has been shiny and beautiful for a week so far, I've stayed on top of the dishes (an absolute friggin' miracle), I've been cooking more, 86'ed lots of mismatched tupperware, and even cleaned under the sink. Gross. But I feel so awesome!

I was skeptical last week but at this point am quite convinced that the Flylady is a means of grace. For real.

Per Lacey's request....oh flylady :)

Many, many years ago I was told about www.flylady.net at MOPS. I did very few chores growing up and the result was once I had my own household, I had no idea how to take care of it! On top of that, I am easily distracted and tend to turn a small project into a complete overhaul...this drawer is messy, why not pull out every drawer and organize the WHOLE kitchen...6 hours later!!! Flylady is all about teaching people who aren't "born organized", as they call it, daily habits that will keep your house clean all the time.

Yes, Lacey, it is both ridiculous and inspiring :) I will say when I stick with the flylady program, my house is at its best. Then I start bucking the structure and end up in my disorganized "habits" again. I really don't like structure...which isn't healthy or fair to the rest of my family.

I have noticed as my kids are getting older, that I am passing my ways onto my kids though...not good. So, we are trying to stick with it and my kids now have their own kids' control journals (this is all on the website). This is a new experiment, so we will see how it goes.

If you naturally stay on top of your housework, don't ever feel overwhelmed, don't have clutter piles here and there, and don't panic and go on a cleaning streak when people are coming over, you probably don't need to check it out :) But I have found it to be useful in my life. They teach you how to cut things down into small steps, keep on top or your steps and get your house into a more peaceful place.

The next thing I would like to make a daily habit is what flylady calls "swish and swipe," which is basically quickly cleaning your sink, mirror, and toilet each day before leaving the bathroom. This way your bathroom always looks good. Those Norwex cloths would be good for this! I am going to try out using regular microfiber cloths and some vinegar/water spray.

It is not for everyone, but for a certain type of person it is very helpful. They send out daily email reminders, each week is a new cleaning zone to concentrate on and they send out daily missions in the zone. For example, this week is the kitchen and here is today's mission is to scrub the counter tops.

It is all free, I am guessing they must make money off the products they sell. I have ordered one dusting product and it was really good quality. I am very tempted to order their toilet brush, it looks intense! So....that is my take on flylady :)

Housekeeping: Fly Lady

Carla, maybe you can post more extensively about this website... I have found it to be both ridiculous and inspiring :)

FlyLady

Deals: Urban Spoils

Mars Hill people might already know about this site, but I wanted to mention it today anyway. Urban Spoils displays groupon, livingsocial, and at least 5 other Seattle-area deals on one awesome website. I have signed up for their daily emails and unsubscribed from the others in order to get less clutter in my inbox. Tons of great date night ideas... today there is are offers for wine-tasting in Edmonds and discounts for Pizza Hut (for that extra-fancy date night you've been longing for) and other stuff that is a bit less interesting to me (20 units of Botox? I need it!) ... anyway, I think it's definitely worth your time to check out the site once in awhile.

As an aside, it appears that google/blogspot is having chronic problems with peoples' comments not showing up. It seems that they're working around the clock to fix it. Sounds very boring for them. But until they do, I remain disappointed that the blog can't be as interactive as I would like, but maybe we can respond to other peoples' posts by creating new ones each time? Lame.

Oil Cleansing Method-cheap and good face wash

As a few people know, I am a bit of a hippy in that I like to use things that are all natural. This all came out of research I did after my husband had cancer, not from living in a commune :) Going to a natural foods store or a supplement store to buy all natural products can be pricey though, so I make a lot of my own. This year my skin has gotten super sensitive and I started getting a lot of irritation on my face. Even my all natural cleaner was bothering my skin. So, I researched and researched. Plain yogurt works well, but you have to grab it from the fridge before heading to the shower and half the time I forgot. Other options were a bit messy...
Well, 2 months ago I found this page : http://www.theoilcleansingmethod.com/ and I have had great success with it. I keep a small bottle in the shower, it travels well, removes even waterproof mascara, doesn't strip my skin, has given my skin a nice glow, and it is cheap!!!! From reading it can work well for all skin types, oily to dry. So, I am sold :)

My method is to massage it in for a minute at the beginning of the shower, let it sit on skin for the whole shower and then use a washcloth to remove at the end. I usually don't wash my face at night because I don't wear face makeup...and I'm lazy! But if I wore eye makeup I will massage it on at night and then just remove with a washcloth. I use extra virgin olive oil and castor oil right now, but recently bought sunflower seed oil and will try that next go around.
Currently I follow this with a spritz of rosewater and then a burts bees face lotion I really like. I have yet to find a good recipe to make a face lotion myself, they all end up too greasy.

Hope you are all enjoying the nice weather!

Food: Bread Pudding

Bread pudding with caramelized orange sauce was the chosen resurrection recipe for our stale bread. Kind of labor intensive, but Charlie helped me and it was definitely worth the time spent. Below is a link to the recipe. I would recommend trying it when you have a day off and feel like spending some happy housewife time in the kitchen. (Note: it needs to be started the night before.)

Bread Pudding with Orange Caramel Sauce

As an aside, don't be frightened by the picture on the website. It makes the pudding look like a bleeding corndog. Mine did not turn out like that.