Making a House a Home

I LOOOOOVE this Writing Claw!!! It's made it so much easier for Elizabeth to hold her pencil. Her fingers simply fit into the little cups and away she goes!!! She would hold it so improperly before that I knew it would lead to handwriting issues later on. I was happy to find this Writing CLAW at our local teacher supply store.

Am I the only person NOT on facebook????

Continue reading here at Mrs. Fuentes' blog...

We've all had recipes that have called for "cold butter, diced".  It's such a pain, in my opinion, to try to dice butter. Even when it's straight out of the refrigerator, it still starts melting pretty fast once your hand starts touching it.

I've discovered a tip that works for me!!  I put the butter in the FREEZER about 20 minutes and then take it out and cut it into sticks and then dice it up.  It's firmer so it cuts more easily and it doesn't melt as quickly when my hands touch it.  After I dice it, I'll put it in a bowl in the refrigerator for a few minutes just to make sure it's cold when I use it.  This way it's perfectly cold for my biscuits or pie crust or whatever I need "cold butter, diced" for!!!

UPDATE: Problem fixed!! Mr. U realized that Firefox was my problem and did something to fix it (I am NOT computer savvy AT ALL, so I have no idea what he did). If anyone else encounters this strange problem, it may be Firefox!!!!

Is anyone else having trouble posting pictures on blogger??? When I try to, at the bottom left of the screen, it says "waiting to connect to blogger.com" and then changes to "connecting to draft.blogger.com" and they flash back and forth SUPER DUPER fast.

ACK!!!

Any ideas? I've already restarted the computer with no luck.

Yesterday was our first day of school here in our homeschool.  I consider Elizabeth to be in PreK even though her work is all K and 1st.  She is SO excited about learning more. 

Some of y'all may remember me blogging about the pumpkin shortage. As you can tell by the above photo, I HAVE PUMPKIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My sweet, real-life friend, Melissa, found the Libby's cans at a grocery store near her and her granny found the other cans at another grocery store!! I was SOOOOO excited when I got them!!

So can you guess what we had today for our meal? Yes, something with pumpkin in it!! Pumpkin Sausage Pasta that my family adores.

I just can't help it, y'all.  I am SOOO ready for Fall!!  I am OVER the extreme heat we've had all summer long here down South and ready for cooler days and changing leaves.  The nights have been a tad cooler lately so it only makes me want Fall all the more. 

Anyone else ready for Fall?

I cleaned my sink.  Yessireebob, I did.  I did it the Flylady way and it is SPARKLING clean now!!!  It is amazing how simply cleaning the sink has gotten me into a cleaning mood!!  Look out dirt and dust, here I come!!!

For years, I have done all I thought I could do for my poor dry, cracked heels and NOTHING seemed to help.   I figured I was going to have to deal with them for the rest of my life.  What a pain!!

And then, I bought a Ped Egg while grocery shopping at Walmart last week.

Did you hear the Hallelujah Chorus last week from the South?  Yep, that was ME!  I LOOOOVE my Ped Egg!!!  It is the ONLY thing that has ever helped my icky heels.  Elizabeth asked me what I was doing and I told her, laughingly, that I was trying to make my heels as nice and pretty as her 4 year old heels are.  HA!  Well, y'all, guess what?  THEY ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!   Okay, well, not EXACTLY as nice as a 4 year olds, but a MILLION times better than they were!  I am super excited about my Ped Egg!!

I know I'm not the only one who has had to deal with nasty, dry, cracked, sore heels, am I??  If that's you, definitely give your feet a break and buy a Ped Egg.  You will be SO happy with it!!

And no, I'm not getting any money from Ped Egg. I just want to help out anyone else who has the same problem I was dealing with. 

YAY!! Soft heels are here to stay!!!!

Groceries.  Oh dear.  The cost of buying groceries has gone up SOO much in the past few years!!  I'd love to know what your family is paying each month on groceries. 

Also, how much does your family eat out??

I shop right after each payday- the 10th and the 25th.  Just last week, our bill was $260!!!!  And that didn't even include any meat!!!!  There are 3 adults in our home and a 4 year old.  I'm not even counting formula for Caroline in this purchase.   I buy store brands as much as possible and don't buy anything premade (no chips or cookies or frozen meals) because I enjoy making things from scratch.  Coupons aren't always helpful since the store brand is usually much cheaper.  Wow, that totals $520 a month!! 

What does your family do to keep the cost of food down?

Tammy shared yesterday that she made a homemade Green Enchilada Sauce and WOW does it look YUMMY!!! I've made several enchilada recipes, but I'd REALLY love to know YOUR favorite enchilada recipe that uses green enchilada sauce! I'm just dying to try this new recipe.

Would y'all share?? Pretty please???

I remember well when we first brought Elizabeth home from China. I was in a fog for about 6 months, it seems, trying to figure out how to do things around the home and still watch her AND include her in what I was doing. Somewhere along the way, it all clicked in my brain and we found a routine that worked very nicely.

Since Caroline's been home (she was born here in the South), I'm finding myself in that same fog that I was in in 2007. Cooking is easier because Caroline is younger than Elizabeth was when she first came home and I can find more time to cook during all her napping. Hosuework hasn't been too difficult, either, but, I must admit, my house isn't nearly as clean or tidy as it was just a couple of months ago. With car seat carriers, boxes of clothes, Sam's-sized diaper purchases and soon-to-be-used Bumbo seats, I'm finding that our tiny home is feeling quite cluttered these days.

My main confusion these days, however, has been in trying to handle Elizabeth!! HA! She is SOOO excited about being big sister that she wants to pick up Caroline and do all kinds of things with her! LOL!! I told her in a few months she'll be sitting up and will be able to play more. Of course, to a 4 year old, "a few months" seems like an eternity!!!

But OOOOH am I thankful for my two little ones!!! They'll grow up and become wives and mothers all too soon. And I pray that, above all, they'll grow up into women of God- ladies that truly have a heart to follow the Lord no matter the cost.

For now? For now I'll enjoy the clutter and the smiles and the giggles. What sweet blessings I've been given!!!

I made this up today because this was all I had on hand. Surprisingly, it was GOOD!! I love when a recipe comes together so nicely!!




1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 piece bacon, finely chopped
2 medium onions, minced
1 lb lean ground beef
4 cloves garlic, minced *
4 cups chicken stock
1 (14 oz) can Great Northern Beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14 oz) can diced tomatoes, NOT drained
3 T freshly minced rosemary
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmigiano reggiano

In stock pot, heat extra virgin olive oil. Stir in bacon and cook until crisp. Add onions and ground beef and cook until pink is gone from meat and onions are translucent. Stir in garlic and cook until you start to smell the garlic fragrance (maybe 1 minute). Stir in stock, beans, tomatoes, basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Let come to a boil and then simmer about 15 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Top each bowl with freshly grated Parmigiano reggiano before serving.

*I have to tell y'all, we are BIG TIME garlic fans in our home. You don't have to use 4 garlic cloves if you don't want to. Please change it to make YOUR family happy. :)

Here's our little Caroline at 2 months old. WOW how much she has changed!! So full of love and life and SMILES and giggles! I LOOOOVE it!!

It's no secret. I LOVE to cook. And I really enjoy watching the Next Food Network Star. My favorite this year? Hands down, Aarti!!

If any other NFNS fans are reading this, be aware that you can go vote for the Fan Favorite!! You can vote up to 10 times a day until August 16th and the winner will be 6 episode web-only show. FUN!! I want Aarti to win the whole thing AND win the web show, too! Go Aarti!!!

Our family has been in San Antonio, Texas, attending The Baby Conference. What FUN we've had here!! We were blessed to meet some old friends, make new friends, visit a beautiful city and be encouraged in our family vision! It's been wonderful!!

Were any of y'all here?

I know I can't be the only one out there that has looked EVERYWHERE for canned pumpkin lately, can I? If you're like me and cannot find it, I just found out there is a pumpkin shortage!! For real! Read about it here...

Still, this doesn't AT ALL change the fact that my family and I are really craving Pumpkin Sausage Pasta and Thai Style Chicken Pumpkin Soup!!!

Yep, I just finished a nice little 30 minute nap. I've always loved being able to take a quick nap, but now that we're still adjusting to Caroline, I'm definitely in need of them!!! And how wonderful to know that naps are good for you!!! While Elizabeth and Caroline are napping away, this mommy will certainly find time to fit in a little shut eye.