Happy Autumn!

I have been collecting fun fall activities and ways to celebrate the new season instead of mourning the sun that is oh so quickly fading away. Here's what I've collected and brainstormed so far. I'd love to hear more ideas!

walk through Discovery Park
use mulling spices
make baked apples
go out for coffee dates
eat soups and potatoes
make hot cocoa mix
eat oatmeal
shop for scarves
eat stew
rotate summer clothes to the back of the closet
winterize the apartment (the only thing this involved for us was dumping our dead plants out of the pots, but okay)
eat stew
pretend it's Christmas for an evening (don't judge me!)
make cider
find a recipe to make chai tea from scratch
decorate with leaves :)
make Molly's pumpkin cream cheese roll cake
buy ridiculous rainboots
pull out the blankets and throws
keep windows shiny to let lots of light in!
get library movies to snuggle up to on dark nights (can you tell we're on a budget?)
take long late-afternoon walks and intentionally walk through crispy leaves

Happy Fall, ladies! :)

A harvest-worthy meal

Don't you just love the days when all the new recipes you make turn out wonderfully and all the food just tastes soooo good?!? Tonight's dinner kind of came together last minute. One of our family friends that lives down in Longview has a farm and they sent home some yummy produce for us with my mother. I received beautiful cucumbers, the most yummy tomatoes, a squash, some cute green peppers, and some fresh ears of corn. Wanting to make sure none of it went to waste, I put together dinner around some if it. We had corn on the cob, a delicious shrimp pasta salad, and creamy cucumbers. Oh creamy cucumbers. This is a true North Dakota recipe, passed down from my mom. It is comfort food for me. The whole meal all put together reminded me of a harvest meal.

When I was young girl and we still lived in ND, I can remember my mother, grandma and aunt taking lunch and dinner out to the men in the fields. You had a CB in your kitchen to talk to you husband out in the truck or on the combine :) Yummy meals, that were filling and of course easier to transport!

In case you want to try it, here is the very simple creamy cucumber recipe:
In a medium bowl, mix 1/2 C mayo 3 T milk 2t white vinegar 2 t sugar and pepper to taste. Peel and slice about 3 cucumbers and add to mix, tossing to coat. That's it, yummy!

Now, if I had a jello salad of some kind, I would have had an authentic harvest meal!

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