Which are you…

Are you a saver/keeper or a thrower-awayer?  My mom and sister are are keepers, I am a thrower-awayer.  My mom has told my sister that after she dies she better get to her house first, so I don’t throw all of her stuff away.  I’m not saying saving/keeping is bad, it’s just not my style.  There are several things that I am so grateful to my mom for saving… baby clothes, Halloween costumes, to name a couple.  I do keep some things, but for the most part I chuck!  It feels good to throw things ways… cleansing.  There have been a few times that I look back and wish I hadn’t thrown something out, but so be it.

Evelyn appears to be a saver/keeper.  I’m trying hard not to crush her spirit, but sheesh… she has a lot of stuff.  We did a de-junking of her room today… all the drawers and nooks and crannies that she can stuff things in were emptied and gone through.  It was tough and I let her keep some things, but she would keep EVERY little scrap of paper if I let her.  I don’t want her to resent me someday for making her throw her stuff away, but I don’t want her to turn into one of those weird hoarder people.  Not to be critical, but people that save that much stuff have issues.  I’m just saying I don’t want her to have issues.  As we were just about finished, I was sitting on her bed and could see something on one of her closet selves.  I couldn’t tell what it was… it was a picture that she got in the drive threw at Chik-fil-A.  You should have seen the look on her face when I told her she had to throw it away… Why that was such a treasured possession, I don’t know.

Eek…

I just realized I didn’t blog yesterday.  Oops!  Hope I don’t get fired.  I’ll post again today to make up for it.  I’m making Pumpkin Pancakes for breakfast this morning.  I’ll let you know how they turn out.

Italian Sausage Vegetable Soup

1 lb. Italian Sausage (I use turkey sausage)

1 medium onion, chopped

3 carrots, diced

3 zucchini, diced

6 c. chicken broth or 6 c. water and 6 bullion cubes

1 (28 0z.) can crushed tomatoes (I didn’t have any when I made this tonight, so I used diced canned tomatoes and it turned out just fine.)

1 t. dried basil

1 t. oregano

salt and pepper to taste

1 c. uncooked orzo

Brown meat with onion.  Drain if needed.  Add other ingredients (except orzo) and bring to a boil.  Add orzo and cook for 20 minutes.  Serve topped with Parmesan cheese.  Serve with Pesto Bread and Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies for dessert.

Side note… I was going to take a picture, but I’ve run out of gas.  Evelyn asked if there was zuckiwi in the soup.  She always combines zucchini and kiwi when refering to either. 

School Lunch…

Today, as Evelyn and I were finishing lunch, she asked me if they had “this” at school.  By “this” she meant lunch.  We were having left over homemade refried beans and rice.  I told her they serve lunch at school, but it wasn’t as good as moms.  (At least I hope it isn’t).  I said, “I remember having lunch at school and it wasn’t very good.”  She said, “So is that why we homeschool?”  lol…

Fonts…

I love fonts… do you?  Check out kevin and amanda fonts.  Love them and you will too!

Drivers License…

I had to get my drivers license renewed today.  It expired on my birthday, but because of our move, I didn’t get notice about it.  For some reason I remembered last week about it.  I was able to fill out the application at home, print it off and take it in.  I had to take in 2 items with my name and address, my birth certificate and my SS card.  I’m surprised they didn’t ask for my first born too.  I had to have a new picture taken… WHY do they always come out so ugly?  I mean really, do I actually have that many chins and look like a man?  The picture is so NOT flattering.  I WON’T be posting it, even if you do want to see it.

Cousins…

Some of them anyway.  The Easterling’s were in town for a wedding.  They came down to our house today for church and a quick visit.  (Too quick!)  I didn’t tell the kids they were coming.  As we walked into church I pointed out their car in the parking lot and said, “Evelyn look, there’s a car like KK’s.”  (She usually notices cars like theirs were ever we are, I’m surprised she didn’t notice it.)  She said, “Yes and it’s black like hers too.”  I was trying not to smile and give it away.  We walked into the building and Evelyn saw KK right away and stopped dead in her tracks.  It was so funny.  We had a great day, but it went all too fast.  We had to have a little photo shoot before they left.  Poor Mary didn’t make it into the pictures though.  She was pooped and feel asleep sitting on David’s shoulder.

Cousins VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Granola

I’ve seen a lot of recipes for homemade granola out there in internet recipe land, so I thought I would give it a try.  I found a couple of recipes I liked, so I combined them.  Here is the end result, tweak as you like…

• 6 c. rolled oats (not quick or instant)
• 1 c. raw sunflower seeds
• 1 1/3 c. raw pumpkin seeds
• 1 1/3 c. oat bran
• 1 1/4 c. wheat bran
• 1 c. wheat germ
• 1 1/4 c. unsweetened coconut
• 1 c. raw sesame seeds
• 1 c. flax seeds
• 1 1/2 c. raw almonds
• 1 c. raw pecans

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.

• 1 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1 1/2 c. water
• 1 1/2 c. coconut oil
• 1 1/2 c. honey
• 1/2 c. molasses
• 1 1/2 t. salt
• 2 t. cinnamon
• 3 t. vanilla
• 1 c. craisins (added at the end of the baking time.)

Combine everything but the craisins in a sauce pan and cook until the sugar is dissolved- do not boil.  Pour syrup over the dry ingredients and mix well.  Bake @ 300 for 60-70 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.  (I also rotated my pans every time I took them out to stir.)  Add the craisins after the 3rd stir.  Let granola cool in the pan, stirring every so often.  Store in an air tight container.  It’s yummy to snack on plain or with milk or yogurt for breakfast.  (Or an after dinner snack like Crazy 3 is having right now.)

***  Winco has a great bulk food section.  I was able to find everything I needed for this recipe.  ***