Re-Using Dryer Lint

I was very intrigued by this post over on The Grocery Cart Challenge. From now on, I won't be throwing my lint away anymore!! I think that composting it and using it as a fire starter will probably be our most common uses, but I can imagine myself making Chloe Mae some clay out of it in a couple years or working on a papier-mache project together.

I get so excited about the littlest things...

Earth Day, 2010

What did you do for the 40th Earth Day?? We got a compost bin and a rain barrel!! Okay, okay. We didn't intentionally get these in honor of Earth Day, but it's pretty good timing, right?? And they're green, Earth-friendly choices regardless of when or why we got them...

We're lucky enough to have the perfect spot for the rain barrel right next to the garden. And there was just enough room for the compost bin in the garden, between the garage and our asparagus.

The added bonus?? I think both will save us some money in the long run. We're thinking about doing away with our trash service. Composting should cut down on the garbage we produce, which is already minimal, and what we do produce shouldn't be very stinky, since there will be very little food-products in it. So we can "save it up" and take it to the Resource Recovery Plant by the vehicle-ful for a small fee or on the twice yearly free days - even better!! The savings from the Rain Barrel are obvious, since any water we use from there we won't be paying water and sewer charges on. Thanks to the rebate offered by the Smart Watersheds program, it was a small investment to start with!!

Atkins Diet Dream?

This is Kentucky Fried Chicken's newest "sandwich." It's called the Double Down. There are 2 fried chicken filets as the 'bun', with 2 strips of bacon, monteray and pepper jack cheese and a zesty sauce inside.

While I realize that there are plenty of other fast food options out on the market that are probably even higher in calories/fat/all that bad stuff, seeing the large banner for this particular offering just made me cringe. I thought, "No wonder almost 2/3 of American adults are overweight!!"

We already try to avoid having fast food very often and when we do, Aaron and I usually try to split something. After seeing this, I'll be watching what we (I) eat even closer. This makes me look forward to garden season even more. We rarely ever eat out in the summer when we have a garden full of veggies we can eat at home!!

Driver's Ed Deja Vu

By the time I'd taken Driver's Ed my sophomore year of high school, I'd had my learner's permit for 1.5 years and, given that I was a teenager, I was pretty sure I already knew everything, so I didn't think I got much out of the class. Plus, I thought the instructor was a little bit crazy - when I didn't slow down and look both ways before a set of railroad tracks, she smacked her 3-ring binder against the dash and informed that I'd just killed her niece...

That crazy teacher did teach me how to effectively parallel park though.

I don't need to use the skill very often, because there aren't very many places in Ames where there are parallel parking spots. But when I do - for instance, when there's a -20 degree wind chill and I need to run into the library - I'm a pro at it as long as I take a deep breath and imagine the instructor sitting next to me, telling me exactly how to get into the spot. (If I don't stop and think about it, it's about a 20 step process!!) Here are the easy steps that I imagine my instructor giving me:

• Pull up even with the steering wheel of the vehicle in front of the spot you want.
• Turn your steering wheel 1.5 rotations towards the spot and start backing in, until you're even with the back of the vehicle in front of you.
• Then straighten out your wheel and continue going straight back until the front of your vehicle is even with the back of the vehicle in front of you.
• Turn the steering wheel counter-clockwise and continue going back until you're straight in the spot.
• Finally, pull forward to center yourself in the spot if necessary.

It works, every time, no fail - even in my new, bigger vehicle!!

Sunshine at 5PM

Every winter as it gets darker and darker when I'm leaving work at 5PM, I listen to people talk about how much they hate going home in the dark. I listen and try to empathize, saying something along the lines of, "Yeah, it's a real bummer." Truth be told, I don't really mind it too much. It's usually cold enough by then that I'm not going outside at night anyhow.

However, this time of year, when the sunshine at 5PM is returning, it's a whole 'nother story. I love walking out of work and seeing the light again. It gives me an extra bounce in my step and puts me in a better mood. It's still cold enough that I'm not going outside after work, but it's the first sign that spring is just around the corner.

So, come on spring!! Feel free to arrive early this year :-)

Blessings in Disguise

Today would have been my 6th anniversary at Gateway Hotel if I still worked there. But I don't, and I'm okay with that now. We had a tumultuous 1+ year, but I truly think that everything worked out the way it was supposed to. Even if it was hard (if not impossible) to think that at the time. For a few months, I hated getting the mail, because there was always the possibility of another rejection letter. It was heart-wrenching and usually required a full box of cookies before I started feeling better about things. Looking back, I can say it was all worth it to end up where we are today.


-Late September of 2008 I found out I'd be losing my job.
-Early October we found out we were finally pregnant.
-January of 2009 I was officially unemployed.
-From February through the end of April I worked as a temp at a tax agency.
-The middle of May I had my beautiful baby girl.
-August 10 I started my job with the City of Ames. Chloe was exactly 12 weeks old when I went to work and I feel very lucky that I got to spend her first 12 (very colicky) weeks with her. I get to work 10-5, so Chloe and I have extra time to hang out in the morning, instead of rushing around trying to get out of the house. At 5 when I leave, I truly leave my job behind. I don't have to think about it again until I get there the next morning, which is great when my night is already filled with Miss Chloe Mae.

Hopefully next time something goes seemingly wrong in my life, I can remember that it'll eventually work out!!

I see lots of pasta in our future!!

Inspired by Melissa from "Next Food Network Star," who taught us that ratatouille has Eggplant, Zucchini, Peppers, Onion and Tomato (EZ POT) and because we had all but the eggplant ready for harvest in our garden, we (Aaron) made ratatouille last weekend. There was a bunch leftover and we didn't think it would reheat very well, so we pureed it and froze it for future use on pasta. It was quite tasty and I'm looking forward to having a nice sauce, chocked full of veggies for our pasta!!

Now this weekend, we have a bunch of Roma Tomatoes ready along with some carrots, and of course, more zucchini. Aaron's currently roasting everything and then we're going to make more veggie-licious pasta sauce. We'll be set this fall/winter for lots of yummy pasta dishes!!

We'll have even more tomatoes ready in the next few days, so if anyone has a great homemade marinara recipe, please share!!

How Naive

I thought this was a big'un... Oh how I was wrong.

Aaron discovered this guy hiding in our broccoli the other day. We're starting to run out of ideas for using fresh veggies (last night we made green bean and zucchini tempura as our side - yummy!!) and freezer space. Oh what a problem to have.

Hooray for Veggies!!*

Our menu planning has been thrown out the window the last few weeks. We usually do 1 day of grilling, making extras so that we have a few meals throughout the week. We've also depended on the stockpile of freezer meals, so we haven't gone hungry by any standard. However, our meals haven't exactly been well-balanced on a regular basis. But now we're able to harvest from our garden, so that should all change. Tonight, we're having Crock Pot Chicken from the freezer with brown rice AND we're having salads with Bibb Lettuce and Zucchini and Grean Beans straight from the garden!!

Aaron just pointed out a couple little zucchinis to me yesterday, so we didn't think we'd have any ready for another week at least. Then, when I was picking green beans today I noticed this giant and decided it was time to harvest it. I don't know how big they can get, but this one's significantly bigger than any I've ever purchased in stores. We're going to get dozens of zucchinis, so if you have any great recipes or would like any for yourself, let us know!!

*For anyone who's known me longer than a couple years, did you think this phrase would ever come from me?!?

Home Warranty

We are so thankful we got a home warranty when we purchased our house last year!! Over the winter, we had our water heater replaced for just over $100, to cover the service fee, disposal and a permit from the city. Now, we're having our air conditioner replaced for 1/3 of the normal cost. Again, most of the costs would have been covered, but we decided to upgrade the outdoor unit and replace the indoor part of the unit as well (which is technically still working.)

Our current unit is 35 years old, so "it doesn't owe us anything" according to the repairman. The SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating) on the current unit is a 6. That's assuming that it's actually working at peak performance, which it's obviously not since they're replacing it!! The lowest SEER on currently produced units is 13 and we're upgrading to a 15, so we should save a ton of money on energy costs. The rating basically means that for every watt of energy purchased for the unit you get that number of BTU's out, so we really can say that our new unit will be 2.5 times more efficient.

Our warranty expires on June 23, so if any more of our appliances decide to stop working, hopefully they do so soon!! (And hopefully I haven't just jinxed us!!)

Our Apple Tree

Aaron and I spent about 3 seconds appreciating how pretty our apple tree looks in bloom, before we realized that all those beautiful flowers were going to become apples. Apples that would most likely become bug-infested and fall off the tree. That means that all those flowers are going to become apples that we'll have to pick up from the yard again...

Yummy Peanut Butter Bars

I came across this recipe the other day and thought I should give it a try. The recipe poster claims that the bars are similar to Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, which I LOVE, and we had all 5 ingredients on hand, so I whipped up a half batch before we headed over to my mom's for dinner. Although I'm not sure if I'd say they're exactly like Reese's PB Cups, they were very tasty, so I thought I'd share.

No Bake Peanut Butter Bars

Combine 1 1/2 cups Graham Cracker Crumbs, 1 lb. Powdered Sugar (about 3-3 1/2 cups), and 1 1/2 cups Peanut Butter and mix well. Blend in 1 cup melted butter until well combined. Press evenly into a 9x13 pan. Melt 12 oz. Chocolate Chips and spread over the top. Chill until the chocolate sets and cut into bars. (They'll be difficult to cut if the chocolate gets really hard.)

2+2=??

I'm beginning to seriously question whether or not many adults would be able to solve that little math problem. I know not everyone is good at math, but everyone should be able to handle simple addition and subtraction and I don't think asking that someone be able to multiply or divide simple equations is too out of line. Here are two examples from my last week where simple math was just too much for some cashiers I had to deal with (really?!? These are the people you trust with your money...)

• We were buying seeds, plants and bulbs for our garden over the weekend. They were selling bulk onion bulbs for $2.99/qt. We purchased a half quart and the cashier had to get out a calculator to figure out that she should charge us $1.50. The really sad part, is that she had to try 3 or 4 times before she came up with an answer - so she's apparently not good at math or using a calculator.
• We were at Target last night so I could pick up a maternity tank top and get Chloe a going home outfit (it's adorable, FYI.) I was paying cash with money from our envelopes - yes, Chloe has her own clothing envelope. The total w as $21.14 and I gave the cashier $21.25. I originally gave her $21 and was rooting around, looking for change. The cashier must have entered "21" while I was searching and then "21.25" when I gave her a quarter, so the register saidthat she owed me $2100.11 in change. She knew this wasn't right, asked if the total had been $21.14, which I confirmed, and then gave me $0.09 in change. It was close to dinnertime, and I wasn't feeling super polite, so I didn't say anything and just left two cents short.

Maybe we'll encourage our kids to learn simple math by banning calculators in our house until they start in on calculus.

Menu Plan Monday

I haven't posted our meal plan in a while, but with the impending arrival of BabyMort, I want to make sure we're still sticking to this as much as possible. My temp job ends this week, so I'll have a lot more free time to try out some new recipes and stock up our freezer meals as well. Plus, I think we have a pretty good menu this week, so I wanted to share :-)

Sunday - NY Strip Steak w/ grilled stir-fry veggies and mashed potatoes (the leftover steak will be used for quesadillas for lunches and the leftover potatoes will be used in another recipe later this week)
Monday - Tacos
Tuesday - Pasta w/ marinara sauce with pureed squash and italian sausage (This was a great idea for getting veggies in, posted over on Lovely Ladies Dish on the Dish)
Wednesday - Grilled Burgers w/ grilled asparagus
Thursday - Mexican Pizzas (We're using the leftovers from tacos, but getting a whole different meal out of it. This is something we want to try to do more, so we don't get tired of eating leftovers.)
Friday - Perogy Lasagna (This is my first day of unemployment again, so I thought I'd try out a new recipe. I'm going to make two 8x8's instead of a 9x13 and freeze one.)
Saturday - Frozen Pizza (My baby shower is on Saturday - hooray for great family and friends!! - so we're not really sure how our day will end up and wanted to stick with something easy.)

For more ideas, head over to The Organizing Junkie.

Three Dogs and A Softie (or 2)

Someone made a comment a few months ago about Nick the dog looking a little chubby. Aaron and I hadn't really noticed it, but then again, we see him every day. Steve the dog still looked fine and Max the dog didn't look any different to us either, so we figured they were doing fine. They all got the same opportunities to eat and exercise, so if the other 2 were fine, then how could Nick be gaining weight??

Fast forward a couple months...Max's owners are in town and stop by the house - immediately commenting on how Max has put on some weight. Really?? We hadn't noticed it... Then we start thinking about how even if Steve had put on weight, we wouldn't be able to tell, because he's so darn furry. And then we discovered that a 55 pound bag of dog food was lasting only 2 weeks. That seemed a little ridiculous. We decided the boys needed to go on a diet.

In comes the softies. Ever since Nick joined the family almost 4 years ago, the dogs have been fed pretty much whenever their bowls were empty, because we never knew which dog(s) had eaten and which hadn't. I didn't want my boys to go hungry and I just kept thinking, how do you limit the amount of food you're giving 3 dogs when you're never sure if they've all eaten??

Then we figured it out. You train them using rewards, just like anything else with a dog. The plan: We'd been given a case of wet dog food by my parents, because Pluto's stomach has gotten sensitive in her old age and it made her sick (which then discovered after buying a whole case of this particular brand.) So, every night when we got home, we'd give each dog 1/3 can of wet food with their dry food so they'd gobble it up. In addition, we'd give them each a cup of food in the morning so they weren't going 24 hours without eating - or at least without the opportunity to eat. Over time, we'd decrease the amount of wet food they were getting until they were just getting dry food, assuming they'd be conditioned to eating at the same time by that point.

We're down to just a few cans of wet food, so we're trying to wean them off. We thought we'd see what they did if we gave them only dry food the other night. And boy did we get our answer - they totally snubbed it!! All 3 looked at us like we were crazy when they realized there was no wet food in their dishes. Then they ate like half their food and walked away.

I haven't decided yet if this means our plan was a failure, they didn't learn anything, or if it means we're still giving them more food than they really need. I can tell you one thing though - Aaron and I will no longer feel guilty, wondering if they've all gotten enough food. They get their chance and it's not our problem if they choose not to eat!!

Stay skinny to go green...??

I saw this article and thought it was interesting. I guess it makes sense since some of the biggest contributing factors to obesity are eating more and exercising less. This means more food production and transportation costs, as well as more transportation costs associated with transporting people more often and heavier people.

I'm always looking for new ways to go green, so I thought I'd share!!

The best thing since sliced bread is...

....three-cheese sliced bread from Panera!! Our usual bread is a whole grain, HFCS-free bread by Sara Lee. It became 'our bread' because of those qualities and because we can find it at the bakery outlet and get it for half the grocery store price, which means we don't spend close to 10% of our grocery budget on bread every week.

It's a good bread, but it gets a little tiresome every now and then. And it's not really the right bread for certain things, like french toast. Well, we had Monte Cristos on our dinner menu one night this week, which is basically a ham and cheese, french toast sandwich (I know, not the healthiest choice, but we replaced an egg with 2 egg whites we had in the freezer...) So, since we've been doing really well with our grocery budget lately, coming in under budget every week, we decided to splurge (but not go over budget!!) on some 'fancy bread' this week.

That's where the Three-Cheese bread from Panera comes in. It is very tasty and HFCS-free (actually free of any sweetener) although not whole grain, but that's fine by me since it's not all-the-time bread. We've used it in our Monte Cristos, as a breakfast bread with an egg scramble on top and for cold ham and cheese sandwich. I can't decide if we should eat the rest or freeze it so we can enjoy it sometime down the road...

If you told me a few years ago that I'd be this excited about a loaf of bread, I'd call you crazy. But I'm really happy for us that we've been able to stick to this grocery budget and even work in ways to 'splurge' every now and then. And it's just plain tasty :-D

A Tried and True Argument: Leaving the Toilet Seat Up

Aaron leaving the toilet seat up has never been something that bothered me. I think part of the reason is that I haven't really had to deal with someone who leaves the seat up on a regular basis. I know that when we only had 1 bathroom, the seat would get left up occasionally, but it was the exception, not the norm. Now that we have 2 bathrooms, I think his seat is up all the time, but it doesn't effect me!!

I've discovered over the last few weeks why this might be an annoying habit though. I work in an office that usually just has another female and 2 males working. There's 1 bathroom in the office (which presents it's own unique challenges for a pregnant woman who seems to have to pee all the time!!) and I swear that 75% of the time when I go in there, the toilet seat is up. I despise having to touch it to put it back down.

But, then I think about a possible alternative. What if they didn't put it up in the first place?? The possible mess there just grosses me out even more. And I suppose there's this argument as well...

Maybe no one else has really thought about this, but what do you think about the age-old toilet seat argument??

"Mortology"

Let others know a little more about yourself, re-post this as your name followed by "ology"

***********FOODOLOGY***************
What is your salad dressing of choice? French - boring, I know.
What is your favorite sit-down restaurant? Carlos O' Kelly's, Cheesecake Factory
What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of? Chips & Queso
What are your pizza toppings of choice? Italian Sausage and Zucchini
What do you like to put on your toast? Peanut Butter or Cinnamon & Sugar
Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate for sure!!

***********TECHNOLOGY***************
How many televisions are in your house?3.
What color cell phone do you have? Pearl (fancy name for shiny white)
Do you have a laptop? Yup - it's our only computer.

***************BIOLOGY******************
Are you right-handed or left-handed? I'm right-handed.
Have you ever had anything removed from your body? A few teeth...
What is the last heavy item you lifted? Nothing too heavy recently...probably a gallon of paint.
Have you ever been knocked unconscious? Nope.

************BULLCRAPOLOGY**************
If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die? No way.
If you could change your name, what would you change it to? I wouldn't. Even if I do have a horribly to pronounce and spell name, I like it :-D
Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000? I don't think so. I don't really do spicy.

************DUMBOLOGY******************
How many pairs of flip flops do you own? A few - I'm too lazy to go upstairs and count.
Last time you had a run-in with the cops? Haven't had one.
Last person you talked to on the phone? Someone who called in at work.
Last person you hugged? My hubby.

**************FAVORITEOLOGY****************
Season? Spring.
Holiday? Thanksgiving, Christmas.
Day of the week? Saturday. I get to sleep in and snuggle.
Month? Either June or October.

***********CURRENTOLOGY*****************
Missing someone? Yeah, it's been too long since I saw a few of my friends.
Mood? Content.
What are you listening to? The TV and the 'whir' of the exercise bike.
Watching? Nothing really - "Rules of Engagement" is on, but I'm not paying attention.
Worrying about? Finances.

***************RANDOMOLOGY****************
First place you went this morning? To the bathroom.
What's the last movie you saw? Some weird movie about summer camp.
Sleeping Alone Tonight? Nope - I'll have Aaron on one side and my snoogle on the other.
Do you always answer your phone? If I'm available when it rings....
Its four in the morning and you get a call, who is it? Better be somebody with an emergency!!
If you could change your eye color what would it be? I wouldn't.
What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic? I don't eat there...
Do you own a digital camera? Yes.
Have you ever had a pet fish? Yes. Several, but cleaning the aquarium wasn't really my thing.
What's on your wish list for your birthday? A great weekend away with my husband and daughter.
Can you do push ups? I used to be able to do a couple...but it's been a while.
Can you do a chin up? No.
Does the future make you more nervous or excited? Definitely a lot of both.
Do you have any saved texts? Nope.
Ever been in a car wreck? Nothing too bad.
Do you have an accent? I sound normal to me....
What is the last song to make you tear up? Actual tears...it was a father-daughter dance at a wedding a couple years ago.
Plans tonight? It's tonight already. I plan on watching "Medium" and going to bed.
Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom? Not really.
Name 3 things you bought yesterday. Nothing - we didn't leave the house.
Have you ever been given roses? Yes.
Current hate right now? Uncertainty about my job status and my constant craving for junk food.
Met someone who changed your life? Of course.
How did you bring in the New Year?Playing the Wii at my in-laws!!!
Would you go back in time if you were given the chance? Maybe, but the whole "butterfly effect" idea freaks me out.
Have you ever dated someone longer than a year? Yup - then I married him.
Do you have any tattoos/piercings? I have one tattoo and I used to have a belly button ring, but I took it out.
Does anyone love you? Shyeah!!! I'm very lovable :-D
What songs do you sing in the shower? I'm usually just trying to stay awake.
Ever had someone sing to you? Yes.
Do you like to cuddle? Uh, yeah - who doesn't??
Have you held hands with anyone today? Yes.
Who was the last person you took a picture of? I think of myself with the self-timer.
What kind of music did you listen to in elementary school? Ace of Base was my first CD...and the Grease soundtrack!!
Are most of the friends in your life new or old? New-ish.
Do you like pulpy orange juice? I'm not a fan of citrus-ey juices.
What is something your friends make fun of you for? I don't know - they're nice enough not to do it to my face.
Have you ever ridden an elephant? No, my life is rough.
Do you like to play Scrabble? Sometimes.
What are you saving your money up for right now? Chloe and possible unemployment.
When is the last time you ate peanut butter and jelly? It's been a while. We go the peanut butter and honey route lately.
What were you doing 12 AM last night? Finally sleeping.
What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? For seriously?!? It can't possibly be time to get up!!

Frugal is my (our) middle name!!

I've always liked being able to find a good deal. And if I can save money, sign me up!! I'm always trying to come up with ideas to save a little here and spend less there. Sometimes, it takes my lovely husband a while to warm up to my ideas, but he's usually pleased with the end result. Here are a few of our latest money-saving adventures.

--We're going to make our own laundry detergent. After a lot of research, we've decided to use the Duggar's recipe. There are only 4 ingredients - water, borax, washing soda and bar soap. We were able to buy everything below for less than $10 and we can make many, many batches of laundry detergent from what we bought.


I think the cost for the portion of ingredients needed to make 1 batch (10 gallons) is ~$2. According to the recipe, we should get about 640 loads of detergent, which means each load only costs about $0.03. Currently, we use the All Free & Clear concentrated HE detergent. A bottle that claims to have enough for 32 loads costs around $7.99, which works out to $0.25 a load. Although $0.22 might not seem like much, if we average 10 loads a week after Chloe arrives (I'm not sure how many we'll need to do since we're cloth diapering...) that's a savings of $2.20 a week and $114 a year. That's pretty good!!

And...if we do average 10 loads a week and 1 batch of detergent has 640 loads, then it'll be more than a year between making detergent, so the time investment is pretty much negligble. In addition, homemade detergent has fewer chemicals so it's not as hard on your clothes or as harmful to the environment. Bonus!!

--We like it when we can be frugal and green at the same time. Along the same path, we like it when we can eat healthier and save money. One of the biggest things we're trying to do to eat healthier is just knowing what we're putting into our bodies and avoiding unnecessary sugars, preservatives, etc... A few months ago, we made our own vegetable stock. We threw all the ends of onions, skins from carrots, brocolli stalks, etc... into a Ziploc bag and kept it in the freezer until we had enough. Then we froze the stock after we made it and pulled it out as needed to make soup this winter. After seeing a great deal on whole chickens at Hy-Vee, we decided to try the same thing - making chicken stock. We didn't have an immediate need for the amount of meat we'd get from the chickens though, so we shredded it and froze in usable portions.

We ended up getting 10 12oz. portions of shredded chicken and 2 quarts of chicken stock. A 12 oz. can of shredded chicken costs $2.18 and a quart of chicken stock is $2.89, totalling $27.58. We spent almost exactly $7 on the 2 chickens, which means we saved over $20!! Our total time investment was probably about an hour - and $20 for an hours time isn't too shabby in my opinion.

--Then there are times when the only way we can spend money, is to try to save some in the process. (I'm not sure if that'll make sense to anyone but me!!) We've been wanting a new bed for a while now. Our bed is over 20 years old and only a full. The size didn't bother us too much until I got pregnant and started having trouble sleeping, which meant lots of tossing and turning, and then the addition of a very large pregnancy pillow. Apparently, the pillow and I don't leave a lot of room for Aaron...

We decided to use some of our tax return to buy a Queen size bed. Aaron did a lot of reading online and decided a Memory Foam mattress would be the way to go. We still had a definite budget to stick to, and we couldn't get the mattress we wanted and a box spring. So my handy husband built us a platform!! We were able to get some 2x4's leftover from another project (thanks Steven!!) We had to buy a couple pieces of plywood, which cost $68. The cheapest box spring we found anywhere was $200, so that's a $140 savings!!

And...thanks to my husband making smart cuts, we'll be able to use the scraps to make a couple shelves for our office. So chalk up another one for the frugal Mortvedt's!!