The Imaginary World

Zac often talks about his imaginary friends. I used to think that kids with imaginary friends just didn't have any real friends, but since I know that isn't the case, I'm not as worried as I would have been about ten years ago. However, my smiles and and inner joy about Zac's imaginary friends took an odd turn today, and here is why:
I was cleaning the bathroom, and Zac came in and started telling me about his imaginary friends' home. His said their world was amazing, because nothing cost money. It became a Q & A because at first I thought he was going all socialist on me, or at least I wondered if he'd read Stephanie Meyers' "The Host".

Z: Imaginary world is better, nothing has a price.
M:Oh, then how do you know what things are worth?
Z: Well, if you need something, you just go into the big storehouse and get it.
M:Who puts it on the shelves?
Z: The dads. They work all day making what is needed.
M: And no one pays them to do this work? What motivates them to do the work?
Z: They do it because they know that if they or their family needs anything they can come get it, and they would want their family to get good stuff, so they make their stuff good.
M: What do the moms do?
Z: They teach the children.
M: Who plants the gardens?
Z: I don't know.
M: How do you know all of this about imaginary land?
Z: When I was in your tummy, two of my imaginary friends came and told me all about where they were from.
M: And they are from imaginary land?
Z: Yes. But, Mom, it's not imaginary because it isn't real, it's imaginary because it is the land that was created before the earth. In the mind. It was made first.
M: So imaginary land is a real place? Just like here?
Z: Yes, only better. Where my friends say things are without price. That means I wouldn't need my quarters from the tooth fairy. Right mom?
M: Have you ever seen your friends?
Z: No, you can't see them, you just can hear them. Everyone could hear them if they tried, they are telling us what it can be like.

By this time, I'm a little speechless. Just sitting and thinking, and Zac runs off to play, like it wasn't a weird conversation at all.

Zac's first Lost Tooth!

"My tooth is wobbly, Mommy!"

It's out!!

I passed

It has been a while since I have posted, but I'll take a minute to say I passed my dissertation proposal. This basically means I have been deemed competent to procedure with my dissertation research. Here is a quick description of what I'm doing:

A great deal of research centers on questions of whether there are group differences. Are males different from females? Did the drug group get better faster than the placebo group? There are also many situations where we group people without really justifying it - Are 'type A' personality people different from 'type B'. I'm improving statistical methods which as the question - do 'type A' and 'type B' really exist, or are they arbitrary cutoffs on the personality continuum? If there really are types (groups) instead of a continuum, we may want to assign people to groups. Currently there are not very good ways of determining how accurately people are assigned to these types of groups.* I'm working on a method to estimate assignment accuracy.

* For those of you who love online quizzes which place you into a group like facebook's "What is your personality type??", I'm going to assume the reader is aware that the results cannot be trusted to represent anything real. They are for entertainment purposes only. If you are not aware of this, consider yourself educated ;).

Here We Go!!

Wow. Tomorrow is a big day for us. Stephen is set to propose his dissertation tomorrow afternoon at 2PM EST. Pray for him!
We're all really excited, he's put so much work into this, and already has some of the work for the dissertation itself done (his advisor has known about his topic, and gave him the go-ahead a little earlier). This proposal should be worth his time, not just a formality, though. He thoughtfully chose people to be on his committee that could add to his research with their experiences. The ND guidelines state that he has to be in this meeting for at least 90 minutes, but he only gets 15 minutes to get his point across. The rest of the time the people who have just heard of his research get to grill him. Ask him any question about his research they would like to.

I'm not really an expert, but I would suppose that this will be easier than his comprehensive exam, where his professors sat around him in a little room and could ask him about anything he'd learned throughout his college career...at least this meeting will be focused on a research project that he is presenting (and knows a great deal about).

After this, it's writing and defending. Then, we GRADUATE!!!!!!!!!

For the love of Physics--or fashion?

I'm telling this story I suppose to show a few of my internal (but never stated) thought processes. I'm open to feedback--really.

Here's what happened: The children and I went to Clay Township park. A very nice place, fun to play at, and the children stay somewhat contained. There is a roller slide (see photo)at this park. Personally, I think it hurts to go down these. I've tried a few, and it's never pleasant. Perhaps my weight on the rollers changes the fun factor...or else our children are all a little loony. I wonder if the person who invented the slide actually went down it, or just thought it was a great idea. Sorry, tangent...back to what happened.

Zac had brought a shovel from our sandbox, and was putting the playground "dirt" (I would say it's more of a mulch, but anyhow...) on the slide, then going up the ladder, coming down, and noticing that the dirt would fall through the slats between the rollers before he got to it. Chayce wanted in on the race, and would go down as well laughing as the dirt disappeared. Quite the fun physics experiment, don't you think? Then, Zac started putting larger piles of dirt at the bottom, and running on the rollers, like a treadmill, to see how quickly he could get the pile to disappear. (No problems yet, right?)

Other children started joining in. What kid doesn't love a pile of dirt? AND considering the lack of science and mathematical education in the United States, I considered my children were doing a good deed by explaining this process to the cute little pre-schoolers who would listen. That all changed when another family showed up at the park. The children of this family saw the group of kids, and the enjoyment, and came running. They immediately began participating in the dirt displacement experiment, this too, was a good thing. The bad thing was when the mother of these children figured out what the kids were up to. She was very upset that her daughter's clothes might get dirty (stained, she said, but I've never had the dirt from Clay Park ruin an outfit, even using the cheapest detergent--plus, we only send our kids to the park in clothes purchased for under a dollar at a yard sale. If they are wearing Ralph Lauren, it's because someone was brilliant enough to pay full price and sell it to me from their garage). The dirt was obviously falling from the slide before the children got to it (meaning the slide wasn't any dirtier after the pile fell through than it was when we arrived at the park--clean playground equiptment? Never heard of it.).
Nevertheless, when she loudly protested, I asked the children to please make sure there was no dirt on the rollers when it was her daughter's turn to go down, but that they could all resume on their own turns. She tried to coax her daughter to swing (yes, let's go sit on a dirty, black, plastic swing that we all know leaves marks--with a chain that's been in the rain...rust anyone?), but the daughter really wanted to stay and play with the others.

Now tell me, was I wrong in not completely stopping the experiment?

Love Spelled Backwards is EVOL.

There is a new food coming to town Fall 2009. Sign up here to get a coupon to try their product for free: http://www.evolburritos.com/

Warm Weather

Not to brag, but I did set the tomatoes out today. It was up to 70 on my outdoor thermometer. YES! Now that's what I'm talking about. Below are just a few photos I took of the kids playing outside.

Which is better?

So, this morning, we were eating the sides of the gingerbread house (at snack time, not breakfast) with apple slices. I posed the question: "Which is better, the gingerbread or the apples?"
Zac, being oh so quick on his feet says, "That depends on what you mean by better." He is his father's child.

After Easter Sales

So, while I was at WalMart, getting run over by the stock boys, I also swung by the Easter clearance, mainly looking for cheap gifts to keep the kids busy on our summer roadtrips (more on that when they are over). Anyhow, while I was there, I found a gingerbread house kit that was Easter themed. I rarely make stuff like this, but for $4, I thought it'd be a fun experience. I had NO idea.

See, the royal icing was great, but the kids haven't mastered the art of holding the end of the bag closed. Chayce didn't seem to mind, she just kept going, as icing came out both ends of the decorating bag (looking back, I should have used clips, but then I wouldn't have these very fun photos of Zac going into frosting panic, as the icing goes down his coat, pants and into his shoes. Another day to thank God that we have a washing machine.) I love how, despite the obvious turmoil (and hysterical laughter from the mommy) Chayce just keeps on decorating, so intent on finishing her part. Payge was there, too, stealing the decorations and eating them. She also found the ruckus to be entertaining.

Waldemart

Got this from a friend. Laughed my head off. Needed it after getting run over by a stocker (yes, as shelf stock boy, not a stalker) last night. Yup, went in to get some crafty stuff after hours of the other stores, and I get rammed into. Perhaps this is the forces of the universe telling me that I should not shop there, even if I forgot to plan to go elsewhere during the day. ha ha

Easter Photos

Awwwwwwww.

Zac & his daddy. Such handsome boys. ;)

Mommy & the girls. Not sure why the highlights look so red, must be the sunlight.

Swinging siblings.

Happy Easter!

It seems funny to say "Happy Easter" thinking of what happened on Easter Sunday about 1,976 years ago, yet truly there is such joy in the meaning of Easter. Joy in what it means to our eternal existence. Perhaps it seems funny because happy doesn't really cut it. Immensely grateful, joyful, blessed--those almost do it justice.

My five year old has been asked to speak about the atonement in church tomorrow for the Primary (the children's Sunday school, ages 3-8). He was sitting at the computer today, trying to think of what to say, when he asked me, "Mom, do you know any scripture-y words I could use?" I found it touching that he knew that the message needed to come from a scriptural point of view.

He'll be using the 3rd Article of Faith:
We believe that through the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

We also listened to this message last Sunday, but a friend posted it with visuals on her blog, and so I thought I'd share it here. It's 4 minutes, please take the time to listen.

The Pictures are fixed--or should be.

Here, try again. They really are worth it.
http://jilsyt.blogspot.com/2009/04/trusting-our-modern-medicine.html

Trusting Our Modern Medicine--updated.

Update: Sorry, the pictures were only loading for those using Firefox. Odd, I know, since usually the problem is the other way around. I've loaded them as jpgs now, which should work for all formats.

So, how much credence do you give your doctor's opinion? I've been wondering about that lately--how much of medicine is just an opinion, backed by a "study"? Especially since part of my husband's job is debunking studies (which makes us a lot of enemies in the medical world. It's hard to make friends with someone you corrected publicly--ask us about the infant hearing study sometime, crazy stuff.). Also, I get a kick out of reading old magazines--we're talking the 1930's-1960's. Good Housekeeping had a great one about Oscar Meyer hotdogs, I believe from '45. It said that hotdogs were economical because they had your child's entire caloric need in one weiner. Yeah, so that way, you could make sure they had the energy they needed for school. I realize times were tough, but I think those who filled their tummies with cheap beans fared a little better healthwise.

Anyhow, my friend sent me these, which were a great combination of two of my thought processes lately. Read all the fine print on the Lysol ad--you'll cringe.

Maybe she looks like...

So, I was walking through the house, putting away laundry (as usual) and saw this picture of me on the wall. My first thought was--"Oh my, Payge looks like my DOLL." So, yeah, I think I've come full circle...I was almost three, got a cute doll--now I'm almost thirty and have a baby that seems to be a clone of my doll. It's more obvious when the picture is clearer, but I had to zoom in on this tiny one to get it to work on the blog.

Ode to Cuteness

Look at those little toes!! How can you not love those toes? Little corn nibblet toes, on tiny little feet. A very welcome each day, and oh so fun to give mommy kisses to.

This is the cute face that is attached to those baby toes. I think it's time for an age comparison again, to see if she's starting to look like anyone. I can't get over that grin though, and she laughs whenever I do, whether she gets the joke or not. For example, I was reading a VERY funny comment in the Reader's Digest this morning, and broke out into laughter. All three of the kids started laughing with me--but the baby to the point of snorting. Finally, Chayce asked, "What are we laughing about?" Payge didn't care, she just kept laughing. I read the quote to them, and they laughed hysterically--then looked at me with an "I don't get it." face. ha ha
(here's the quote: "When my daughter was born, we videotaped the birth. Now when she makes me angry, I just hit rewind and put her back in."--Grace White. She's a comedian, but I usually don't find her that funny.)

The smiling faces. I love these two, really. Lots. I'm a little surprised by the rate at which they are growing up. I asked Zac to get little again for the day yesterday, but he wouldn't do it. Fine. Be that way, I say. Since they will anyway. In three more months, little miss will be four, then a month later Zac will turn six (did I read that right? six?).

The Faerie House Has a Home

We planted 20 more bulbs today, mostly green plants, to compliment the wide array of flowers we have planted in the past two years. I'm getting excited as the flowers begin to bloom. I have a few daffodils that have bloomed already, but I'm really anxiously awaiting the tulips. Also, I planted peonies last fall, and I cannot wait to see those big blooms outside my home!!!

We decided that the flower box by the sandbox was the ideal place for our Faerie house, which we built when there was still snow on the ground. The flower box has hostalike this planted around it. I'm sure it'll be fun when it's buried in the plants to go out and imagine what might be going on inside the house.

Here's the Faerie house, in the dirt, with the stones around it that I purchased at the dollar store. Aren't they pretty?

The children, putting the stones around the house--well, Payge was stealing them, and the other two were chasing them down and putting them back.

CiCi's Pizza--For FREE!

Yeah, so if you live by a Cici's Pizza (we do, there are two of them equi-distance from our house) start staring at the ground. Employees are going around dropping pennies with a "Free Buffet" sticker on the back. If you find it, it's free lunch/dinner! There will be over a million pennies dropped nationwide! The last to find a penny was a kid in Niles, MI. Right by us. Rock on.
Here are the details: http://www.cicispizza.com/_template.php

I HAD to repost this.

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2009/04/06/finding-balance-between-time-and-money/

It made me think twice. I tend not to take food prep or cleaning short cuts, feeling the "old way" is better. But, if I were to take those short cuts, and spend the extra time with my family, would I ever regret it? Probably not. Just a thought.

Math + Homemaking DO mix.

I suppose it is time. I didn't want to post about this until I had it figured out, and actually showed some sort of "reward". I'd been hearing that if you work the system right, you can get things for practically free at CVS. I thought I'd give it a try. I'd also heard it takes a few trips before it shows, and now that I've been 6 times, I can definitely see that the first few purchases are worth it, and if you're careful can really pay off in the long run.

Here's the premise: You buy things at CVS that are FREE after ECB (Extra Care Bucks), and then turn around and use the ECBs to buy other things that also return ECBs. Basically, rolling your first purchase to pay for subsequent purchases.

Here's my findings:

Trip#	Item	Coupon used?	Amount Spent	Retail Value of items	ECBs Back
1	Candy	.88-.5coupon	$0.38	$0.99
1	Candy	.88-.5coupon	$0.38	$0.99
1	Deoderant	2.99-2 coupon	$0.99	$4.49	$2.00
1	Tissue		$0.89	$1.29
1	Purex		$2.99	$6.99
1	Purex		$2.99	$6.99
1	Toothbrush		$2.99	$2.99	$2.99
1	Maxi pad		$5.99	$5.99	$2.00
1	Easy Grip soap	1.19-$1 coupon	$0.19	$1.19
1	Easy Grip soap	1.19-$1coupon	$0.19	$1.19
1	Total		$17.98	$33.10	$6.99
		Tax (7%) $1.54
2	Deoderant (professional)	7.99-2 coupon	$5.99	$9.99	$5.00
2	16 bars soap	15.91-3coupon	$12.91	$19.91	$5.00
2	toothpaste	3.49	$3.49	$3.49	$3.49
2	2 cans cream soup	B1G1 & $1off coupon	$0.70	$3.38
2	cereal	B1G1 & $2off coupon	$2.79	$9.58
2	Kotex		$3.99	$3.99	$2.00
2	Total		$29.87	$50.34	$15.49
		minus ECBs	$22.88
3	nail polish (		$2.79	$2.79
3	nail polish (	free B1G1	$-	$2.79
3	Egg dye		$1.99	$1.99	$1.99
3	Egg dye		$1.99	$1.99	$1.99
		Total	$6.77	$9.56	$3.98
		Minus ECBs	$1.77
4	Mouth wash	6.99-2coupon	$4.99	$9.99	$4
		minus ECB	$-	$9.99
		plus tax	$0.14
5	Diapers for gift	$1off coup(on sale)	$4.49	$10.49
5	Easter basket		$1.99	$1.99	$1.99
5	Easter basket		$1.99	$1.99	$1.99
	Totals		$8.47	$14.47	$3.98
	tax.31	Minus ECBs	$4.49
6	3 Packs of diapers (206)	$3off coupon)	$27.00	$38.47	$10.00
		Minus ECBs	13.53

So, to summarize, I've got $155.93 worth of toiletries, diapers, and a few gifts (candies, newborn size diapers for showers, etc) for $60.79, with $10 in store credit left to use. That's $95.14($105 if you count the $10 in store credit) not out of my pocket. I know it doesn't look like much of a discount yet, but I can see how as I continue this, and work on getting many more items for the price of the tax (things that are shelf stable, that we will use over time) the difference in value vs. what is spent will increase. Yes, it seems to be working. My excel spreadsheet is getting happier, and so is my budget.

I'm most proud of the Easter items coming out to be free, as I used ECBs to buy them, then got that same amount of ECBs back to use on another item. That was the ideal rollover. Although, the diapers (2/3 of them Huggies, the other package a cheap pack to make it up to the amount needed for ECBs) makes me smile as well.

Mixed Meaning

Last night, an almost embarrassing conversation took place.
We had brownies for dessert, and one of our guests said, "Well, if we color them blue, can they be bluies, or greenies, or what ever you might want to call them?"
Zac replied, "Hey does everyone here know what a weenie is?"
I say, "Yes, a type of hot dog."
Zac, "Noooope."
Stephen, "Zac, please don't. Go eat your dinner."
Zac, "c'mon! Don't any of you know what a weenie is?"

By now, my face is red, it's in my hands. I'm petrified at what he is going to say at the dinner table with my guests sitting there. I was already very tired, and so it was easy to get me worked up.

So, to end the guessing, I state, "OK, Zac, what is a weenie?"

And his reply? "A tiny brownie! Get it? A WEE nie? Just like he was saying BROW-nie, or Blue-ie, a Wee nie!! ha ha ha ha!"

The room broke out into laughter. whew.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the car, Chayce exclaimed on of her alphabetical discoveries: "There's a C! I start with C! I'm a Chayce."
Zac, "No, you start with H. Because you are a HUMAN. Your name is just Chayce. You really start with H."
Sigh.

Saturday Is A Special Day...

Not today!!
You know, I hate to admit this, but my favorite thing about General Conference is that church is done at home. Yes, it's 8 hours, but the kids can go play when they get too out of hand, and I can always go back and read what I miss...I can't do that on Sundays usually.

I must admit that today I didn't keep to my not shopping plan...I bought milk, eggs & oranges, because they were at a great price at Martins by my house. Plus, how am I supposed to make pancakes without eggs? I suppose I do have more of those powdered eggs, but I really don't like them.

Our menu today was really a free for all, because I left early to go plant starts for the CSA. (Out of the house by 7:30, that NEVER happens, right? It does for the farm--6:30 when summer actually gets here.)

Breakfast: I had canned peaches and WASA crackers. Zac did too, since he came with me...not sure about everyone else.

Lunch: I had PB&J, Zac & Chayce had hard boiled eggs, and Stephen ate a sandwich of some German bologna that we had only a slice or two left of.

Snacks: Nobody complained, so they must have found something. ha ha

Dinner: A potluck. We made a green salad (I am amazed at how long a prewashed salad can last in the fridge--is that a GOOD thing?). Zac declared his hatred of radishes (he always does). Friends brought over enchiladas (yum) and bread, and brownies and juice. Well rounded, no?

So, yeah, the fridge looks empty. But this is good. I have a tendency to go shopping each week even if we didn't use all of the previous weeks items, and then I eat my favorites from the new stuff and things tend to go to waste. At least now, I know that we used things up.

Tomorrow morning, I will take the rest of the salad, some blueberries, and an orange and make an awesome green smoothie. I might add some yogurt I found hiding in the back of the fridge.

Today's Menu is Easy Peasy

Breakfast: Grapenuts in milk. Did I mention I got these on an awesome sale about 6 months ago...$2 /box. That's good for Grapenuts, especially since it only takes a little to fill us all. Plus, I like to use them to bread chicken. (Rub chicken in mustard, roll in Grapenuts, bake til done.)

Lunch: Stephen took leftovers from last night. The kids and I found two almost too-far gone pears, sliced them and put them with some cheddar & crackers. The cheddar was a low fat one I thought I'd try, but we didn't really like, so it sat there. It's OK with pears.

Snacks: Granola bars. We are going to run out of these (or so the kids think...I've hidden some, and now that Zac is reading over my shoulder, he knows.) I stocked up when Target had them for $1.75/box. Oh, and you KNOW we'll be nibbling on those Magic Bars!! (good thing I've been running. Whew!)

Dinner: At a professor's home. We LOVE going to Mike & Suzy's. Stephen's program has a tradition where the first Friday of each month is dinner at a professor's home. For ever ago it was Professor Boker, but he moved to VA, so then Mike & Suzy took over. Other profs bring stuff, but Suzy is the hero with her bulk cooking (pastas, salads, dessert). Anyhow, we love it: every part of it--the company and food keep us going back.

Whole Wheat pancake mix

Tip: Keep in the fridge if you grind your own wheat, thus saving the nutrients--the oils in freshly ground grain will go rancid. If you buy whole wheat flour from the store, don't worry--there are no oils, therefore no vitamin e, and you won't have to worry about it.
Makes 4 Pounds--feel free to halve.

11 C Whole wheat flour
2 T salt
3/4 C baking powder
2 generous T baking soda*
1/2 C sugar*
4 C powdered milk

Whisk together, and label box with:
To make pancakes:
Whisk 1 egg, 1 C water, 2T oil, and 1.5 C mix.

Might need a bit more water--depends on how you like your pancakes. Experiment. I've been known to throw in some cinnamon & pumpkin, or apple sauce, or vanilla, or beet puree (makes them HOT PINK!).
*Recipe from More-With-Less Cookbook does not contain baking soda, but calls for all white flour, so I add it to make them fluffy--whole wheat needs more help. Recipe also calls for 3/4 C sugar, but I add less.

Another Day, Another Dollar--not spent.

Ahhh, food storage. I love stocking up on things (that we will use). For example, 2 weeks ago Meijer was clearing out all their natural peanut butter for $1.07/jar! So, duh, I bought 15, because otherwise, I would have only gotten 4 for the same amount of $$$. Funny aside here--carrying Payge (my currently 26 pound, not walking yet, one-year old) around has obviously given me some arm strength. I didn't really think of it until I picked up the case of PB, set it on the conveyor belt & went to pay for it. The cashier went to lift it to put it in my cart for me & couldn't get it off the counter! So, I walked around, picked it up, and set it gently in (glass jars, you know). She just stared at me. ha ha. Thanks baby Payge!

Anyhow, back to my goal here: eating from the pantry--recipes included today!

Breakfast
Pancakes (see this post for mix recipe)
Choice of syrup: peach pit or red grape.

Peach pit syrup recipe:
After getting as much peach off the pit as possible (when canning or making jam), soak the pits in a big bucket of water (clean bucket, clean water) for about 24 hours in thet fridge. Overnight works pretty well. This will give you a bitter, but slightly peachy tasting water.
Then take:
7 Cups of the liquid
1/4 C lemon juice
1 box pectin (or 1/2 C clear gel--available at many bulk food places)
7 C sugar--this is how much my mother-in-law uses...I am more apt to stick my finger in and taste before I add this much.

Mix the clear gel with 2 C sugar very well first, if using clear gel. It'll help it not be lumpy.

1. Bring the liquid & lemon juice to a high boil before adding sugar and thickener.
2. Add sugar and thickener. Bring to a boil again til thick. Stir, stir, stir!
3. Fill pint jars (I think I got about 7 per batch)
4. Process in hot water bath (see canning book for instructions) for 10 minutes.
DONE! Keeps well for over a year in the cupboard...if you can get it to last that long.

Red grape syrup
Take a bunch of red grapes that don't seem to be liked by the family. In this case, one bag was really great, and the other was too tart, so I used the too tart ones. Stick in the blender. Pour puree in a pot.
Boil with juice of 1/2 a lemon (hmmm, 1 T bottled?) and a cup of sugar. Simmer til thick...put in a jar (you'll only get one) and stick it in the fridge to be eaten that week.

Lunch
Pizza with veggies from freezer: bell peppers, onions, diced tomatoes.

Dinner
Whole wheat pasta tossed with sauteed mushrooms, onions, and dried tomatoes.
Magic bars: made with my "free" chocolate chips. I chose this recipe because we are running low on eggs.

Cauliflower's Revenge (or Mom's)

No, not like that.
Actually, we did really well today with the pantry eating.

Breakfast
We all had whole-wheat pancakes with blueberries on top. Our favorite way to do that is to fill a quart jar with blueberries, dump it in a frying pan with a little butter & vanilla, & saute them til they are soft. Mmmmm. We have a lot of blueberries still. We got 40 pounds last summer (all in a big bucket in the deep freeze, blueberries are cool that way, easy to store), and are down to about hmmm--15? I'm not worried that we won't use those. We like them WAY too much! Plus, if there are any left when it's time to pick again, I'll just make jam, as my kids' favorite jam to put on their yogurt is a blueberry/strawberry blend. I got raspberries from the farm last year and added those as well. It was soooo good.

I found a homemade whole wheat pancake mix I think I'll post later. It calls for powdered milk, and after talking to a friend I realized that I store it but don't use it. As often as we make pancakes and waffles, this would be a good way to use it up and justify keeping it on hand.

Lunch
Stephen took leftovers, I think Lentil Lasagna & the last piece of that Gorgonzola pizza. He said the pizza didn't reheat well. Again, another reason not to buy it.

For the kids and I: Egg salad--for them on whole wheat bread, for me on the last 2 Ryvita crackers...couldn't let them go to waste! Cauliflower for all of us. But, the kids claimed they didn't like it, sooooo....

Dinner
French bread dipped in (ahem) cheese. Ingredients?
Boiled head of cauliflower & one carrot (for color, really), pureed in it's water, add 2 C chicken stock, a dash or two of Worcestershire, and a cup of milk. Enough flour to make thick (after simmering)--about 1/3 Cup, then 2 Cups of sharp cheddar, shredded. Ha ha. They ate the cauliflower anyway.

A Must See!!