Hitting the Reset Button // Updates

Wow, I almost can't believe it's been so long since I've posted on the blog. I've been thinking about getting back into blogging and came here to see what I could see. Apparently, some elements of my blog have changed in my absence -- there's now a "missing image" block from Photobucket indicating that I need to pay a $399/year fee in order for them to allow me to use their site as a 3rd party host. Hmmmmm.......yeah, I'll pass on that. But now I gotta figure out just what images are being pre-empted and do I want to use them anyway. Decisions, decisions! (I'm halfway tempted to scrap this blog and start over - but there are some posts that I still refer back to.

It looks like my blogging took an abrupt pause in early 2015. That year and the following year were very difficult. My life started changing dramatically mid-October, 2015. First, my good friend at my church and her family moved away out of state. She was our main pianist and her husband was our assistant pastor. Their children and my Gracie played well together and she was my main Mommy friend here in Memphis. About a week after they moved, our pastor unexpectedly resigned our church. I think it was the very next day after that (or possibly the next week after - time gets muddled in my mind, but it was a very short time), my mother called me, coughing her head off so much that I couldn't understand her. Her pastor who was with her talked to me and said that she was on her way to the ER. Gracie and I left the very morning to go see her and take care of her. To abbreviate the story (which can be read on CaringBridge), a month or so after that, my mom was diagnosed with cancer (squamous cell carcinoma), and we (Gracie and I) spent the five months helping to take care of her, tag-teaming with my brothers, my heroes. It was a long-but-too-short battle that resulted in a bittersweet ending: My mom fought bravely, manifesting a testimony of strength that has been inspiring to me; but the Lord took her home to be with Him. In the middle of that battle, my church began seeking a new pastor and we are blessed to have a man whom I have known for over a decade and who is the perfect pastor for our church.

When we came back home in April of 2016, I had to transition back to a new normal for my life. It was a very difficult year. I have never been so glad to see a year end like I was to see December 31, 2016. I had started the 2015-2016 (Kindergarten) school year early in July. It sounded crazy, but I was ready, and Gracie was ready, so I thought, "Why not?" I can see that God led in this decision as well as others because when we went to go take care of my mother, we were ahead. I quickly learned that hospitals and homeschooling do not mix very well -- at least not when there are many interruptions. Over the next 5 months, we did not progress very far in the normal academics, but my daughter learned much about LIFE and SERVING. Towards the end of my mother's illness, I could see a jump in Gracie's reading ability. I remember her being able to read the words on the bucket of Easter candy (motivation, right?) at the nurse's station. She also learned how to read hundreds (100, 200, 300, 400, 500, etc.) by reading one of my mother's medical bags. We were blessed to have been able to be a part of two great churches in the area. Anyway, by the time we got back, I did a double-up and triple-up, and let's-skip-this-and-that (because she was doing quite well on it already) on her schoolwork so that we could finish up Kindergarten. I had her participate in a homeschool kindergarten graduation with one of her friends from American Heritage Girls in early May even though we didn't finish her work until June. I also spent some of that time trying to produce some order in the house (a little hard to do since we brought home a trailer-load of stuff from my mom's house).

One of the best things I did was decide to keep things as simple as possible for the next year. I had some added responsibilities as the administratrix of my mother's estate, but, for the most part, I tried to keep things simple. We continued to do American Heritage Girls, violin lessons, and soccer in the fall, but I did not resume swimming lessons until February of this year. (Amazingly, she did not regress at all, but seemed to be better than she did 16 months prior to that!) We enjoyed a wonderful trip to California to visit my brother and his family for my niece's wedding. The only downside was that we started 1st grade in late August instead of in July. I didn't want our school year to be interrupted by our trip, plus I didn't even get all my school materials (backorder) until August. We also enjoyed seeing my husband's side of the family in Atlanta for Kinsey Christmas in March. We enjoyed a full day of activities together (Coke Museum, escape room, Georgia Aquarium). Somehow, I had to really push to finish First Grade by my self-imposed end date of the last Friday of May. I think we were both kind of glad to be done with First Grade.

I took the whole month of June off. I intended to use that month to, once again, attempt to produce order in my house. I did as much as I could do, and my husband began a project that I had asked to be done for my Christmas present -- turning the utility room (catch-all room for man junk) into a pantry/storage room. Well, he took off a week from work, and wouldn't you know it? We had a horrific storm come through Memphis and we lost power for three days. That put him terribly behind and between needing to work on the weekends sometimes and just being exhausted, he hasn't yet finished my pantry. I'm at a stand-still with my plans-of-great-order until it is finished. I have hopes that Labor Day will see it completed. There's not that much left to do, but since he has removed the panel to the electrical fusebox and has not allowed me in the room at all, I can't even try to do any of it. Not that I have the time or the ability to do a good job with it. So I will be patient. But it's going to be amazing. Two preview words for you: Happy Color and really cool IKEA hacks.

I have made a few small changes to our homeschool plans for Second Grade and we did a "soft start" on July 10th. I will post more about that another time. So, if anyone is still here, comment below to say Hi, to share some homeschooling tips. or mention a few things you would like to see on the blog. Since so much of my life has changed since 2015, should I go ahead and change addresses and start a new blog with a new name and a new location?

In the meantime, I do Instagram at @mrskinsey. I think that's also my Twitter handle, but I mostly lurk on there. My personal Facebook feed is already overloaded with people I actually know and I know I don't have time to do anything with the 21st Century Keeper at Home Facebook page, so don't feel compelled to join that. In fact, just typing out that long name is almost impetus enough to rebrand with a (shorter) new name, etc. for the blog. Suggestions welcome. Prizes will include a Thank You and a shoutout.

New Year's Goals and a Few Tips

Hello all!

I know I have been very negligent about blogging lately.  One of my New Year's Goals is to blog more often.  I'm shooting for once a week.

We had a great Christmas.  We enjoyed the day together opening presents and playing.  Gracie loved her skates as I knew she would.  Robert enjoyed his lamb dinner as I hoped he would.  I got a new lens for my camera (Nikon 40 mm 2.8 micro).  I haven't tried the macro part out yet, but I have done a family portrait session with it.  I've barely started editing photos, but so far, I'm very happy with the photos.

We spent the weekend after Christmas at my mom's.  Gracie always loves seeing her Mia, Papa, Uncle Steve, and Buster.  It was just a short two-night stay.  Then we went to Georgia to visit with Robert's brother and sister and families and had a great time there as well.  Gracie loved playing with her cousins.

Most of my New Year's Goals are monthly goals in various areas.  I think, mentally, it's easier to stick with something for a month and then continue than to try to do something for a year and get discouraged when it doesn't last.  At least that's what I'm hoping.  My overall goal for 2014 is to get more healthy by losing weight and increasing my overall physical fitness.  For January, my goal is to cut way down on sugar.  I am not drinking sodas and am drinking more water.  I haven't had much sweets (just some pieces of fudge because who can resist fudge at Christmastime?), and I do drink juice in the mornings to give me a little extra boost.

My goal is also to be more consistent with reading my Bible.  So far, I've not missed a day!  I do my reading at night because that's what suits my schedule best. (I wish I were a morning person, but I am not!)  Our church is reading the whole Bible collectively this month, and it's fun to participate in that (I am reading Mark and Leviticus this month in addition to my regular schedule; Robert is reading a few books, but I don't know which ones; and I signed Gracie up for the book of Jude which I will read to her.)

I have other goals which I can share later.  I wanted to share some tips with you.  Today was kind of a If You Give a Mouse a Cookie kind of day because one thing led to another.  (A bloggy friend of mine wrote a blog post about HER recent If You Give a Mouse a Cookie day entitled If You Give a Mom a New Chair.  I like her blog and recommend you take a look!)

First, I needed to change the tablecloth to a new one.  I get the vinyl ones to protect the tabletop, which is almost a waste of time because the tabletop has already lost some of its color from packing tape accidentally getting stuck and then being ripped off of it.  (Not happy about that - I would expect that stain would be more soaked-in than that.)  I like the vinyl tablecloths because they are easy to clean, but a problem I have with them is that they slide around too easily.  I figured out a solution a few months back:  use shelf liner (the rubbery stuff) in between the tabletop and the tablecloth.  It doesn't work perfectly because my husband and my daughter are not as careful about keeping the tablecloth straight as I am, but it does work better than not having it on.

Use Shelf Liner between the tabletop and tablecloth to keep the vinyl tablecloth from sliding around.

Here is the new vinyl tablecloth.  I prefer the ones that have a small print or are almost solid so it doesn't look so busy with all the stuff on it.

While I was at Dollar Tree today, I bought some large stretchy headbands to put on the (children's) game boxes so that they would not come apart and dump the contents all over the place.

Use large, stretchy headbands to keep game boxes closed.

 While putting the bands on the games, I took the opportunity to straighten up the games at the bottom of the closet.  (My not-for-little-kids games are at the top of the closet.)  This is our front closet.  Ever since putting in our Mini Mudroom*, I emptied out the closet of our coats (except that Robert put a few of his back in), and my plan is to put shelves in this closet to hold games, some toys (Legos, play-doh, Lincoln logs) and whatever else I can fit in there.

I just realized I never blogged about our Mini Mudroom.  I will put that on the docket to do soon.

I straightened up the children's games at the bottom of the closet.

I keep Gracie's portable DVD player that we mostly use for car trips.  I have the case hanging on a hanger.

Use a hanger to hang up your portable DVD player.

I also keep a few blankets in this closet, but, until today, they were kind of shoved in there with games on top, bottom, and in between.  Until I get my shelves put in, I decided to hang them on hangers to be more accessible.  The white blanket in front is one that I bought at Hudson's Salvage Store in Hattiesburg, MS, in 1991 or 1992 when I was a junior in college.  I bought it for only $3!  It has served as a doggy car blanket, picnic blanket, and a curl-up-on-the-couch-on-a-cold-day blanket!  It is a thick cotton blanket that is easily washable.

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Hang blankets on hangers to make them more accessible.

A day or two ago, I read a great tip on Organizing Made Fun (or maybe watching her video when she appeared on a KTLA talk show, can't remember) where she hung her husband's hats on shower rings that are on a hanger.  Before today, my husband's caps were on an over-the-door coat/hat rack on the inside of the front closet door.

Hang ball caps on shower rings which are on a hanger.

Here is the inside of the front closet door with the empty hat rack.  The flowery bag is our library book bag, and the thing on the right is Gracie's tool belt.

We also have Gracie's bike helmet hung on this door.

My mom will be visiting us in a couple of weeks for Gracie's birthday.  Since the closet in the room where she sleeps (The Learning Room) is full of stuff, I moved the hat rack to that closet door for her to use to hang her clothes on.  There is also room enough in the front closet for her to hang more clothes if she needs to.

My very messy closet in the Learning Room.  It houses photography supplies, craft supplies, and who knows what else!

This is the door going into The Learning Room (formerly called The Room with the Big Window).  I did have just the hook on the right with various bags and aprons hanging on it.  The hook on the left also used to hang on the front closet door and was only used to hang Gracie's felt play scenes (which I never got out this year because I thought they were in the attic and only just realized a few days ago that they are in the messy closet shown above.) and a Spring wreath that my sister-in-law made me a year or two ago.

My husband just put up a Family sign (which can hold small photos) and Gracie's Baby Dedication certificate which pretty much completes the gallery wall in our living room.  I will post a photo on Instagram (Follow me here) later tonight.

Today pretty much caps off a fairly productive week around here despite my having a cold in the middle of it.  I was able to take down Christmas stuff and straighten up most of the rooms in the house, AND mop the kitchen floor!  Gracie's room is currently a disaster, so I think I will work with her on cleaning that up tonight.

Thank you for your patience in waiting for me to blog!  I hope to pop in at least once a week with projects and to continue various series that I started but never finished.

Feed Your Book Addiction

My name is Ava, and I am addicted to books.  There, I said it.

It's all my mother's fault.  She started putting books in front of me to play with when I was could sit up as a baby, and she read to me every night until I was in grade school.  She did the same with my brothers, and we are all avid readers.

Even though I have purged books in the past, my husband and I still own quite a collection of books.  Last May when I went to California for my nephew's graduation, Robert decided to surprise me by making a book nook in our garage to hold our books.  As you can see from the photo below, he kinda misjudged whether they could all fit.  Most of the shelves are full and the boxes in front of the shelves are the remainder of our books!  "One day" I will go through the boxes again and see what I can part with.  Robert wanted me to tell y'all that he has plans of putting cabinet doors on the front, but that was a year ago when he built it.  I like the idea (that's the first I've heard him mention it) because it would keep the books from getting so dusty.  (Fortunately, I haven't had to dust them, because I can't even get to them!!)

Our Book Nook in the Garage

One reason why I am a book hoarder is because I have noticed a downward trend in book quality.  Twenty years ago (and maybe even 10 years ago), you could walk into a book store, find the young adult (teen) section, and find some decent stories.  Today, over 90% of the books are about witches, vampires, and other evil topics.  Now that I have a daughter, who I hope will be as much of a reader as I am, I am concerned about what will be available for her to read as she gets older.  Perhaps the library will still have good books, but I don't know how much we can depend on that.  So, when I find good quality books at yard sales or thrift stores, I will buy them.

Not only do I hoard books, but I hoard e-books as well.  To date, I have over 1,300 e-books on my Kindle app.  I have probably only paid for about 20 of them (and some of them by accident because I thought they were free, but they were not).

My E-books as of today.

I follow several blogs that feature free e-books.


Free Kindle Books and Tips is the blog I've been following the longest.  Michael lists free books (along with free apps for the Kindle Fire) several times a day.  His lists show a variety of books, many of which I am totally not interested in.  Now that I've found other blogs that list free e-books, I depend on it more for the list of nonfiction/reference books.



Inspired Reads (Christian Kindle Books on a Budget) lists Christian ebooks that are free or have been discounted.  I was really happy when I found out about this blog.  They post once per day and will list about three or four free books along with two or three discounted books.  If a book is one of a series, they will list all of the books in the series along with the links so that you can check to see if you have all of them.  The Gone to Green series, for example, have all been free at one time or another.

eReader Girl is a new blog authored by the Money Saving Mom.  Not only does she feature Christian fiction, but she also features various nonfiction books that are not necessarily Christian in nature, and free ebooks for children!









Christian eBooks Today is the latest blog that I follow.  Like the other blogs, they feature both Christian fiction and nonfiction.  Just a week or so ago, I started following all of these blogs by email rather than using Google Reader.  I had a difficult time finding the follow-by-email feature (down the sidebar on the right); when I tried it, it gave an error message.  I contacted them, and they fixed that problem.




Just recently, I have found some posts about free classics on the Contented at Home blog.  She has links for such authors as Louisa May Alcott, Charles Dickens, and Jane Austen.  I do not follow her blog right now, but I may follow her in the future.




I am hopeful that Amazon will be around for a good long time because I also hope to exchange many of my physical books for ebooks.  1,346 books on an iPad takes up a whole lot less space than my only-several-hundred books in my book nook!

Do you have any book blogs that you follow?

Chicken and Rice Bake

My sister-in-law (who is a closet reader of my blog - I didn't know she followed until recently.) gave me this recipe years ago. We all love it! Since I've been married, I have changed it by doubling the rice and soup because it's that good!

First, I'll post the original recipe, then the changes I made, and then a failed experiment.




The Original Recipe:
1 can condensed cream of chicken & broccoli soup*
1-1/2 cups water
3/4 cup uncooked rice
1-1/2 cups sliced mushrooms (optional)**
1 can (2.8 oz.) Durkee French Fried Onions
4 chicken breast halves (about 2 lbs.)
paprika
pepper

In a 3 quart baking dish, mix soup, water, rice, and 1/2 can onions.  Arrange chicken on top.  Sprinkle with paprika and pepper.

Bake at 375 degrees for one hour.  Top with remaining onions, and bake for another 3-5 minutes or until onions are golden brown.

*I have not been able to find cream of chicken & broccoli soup in years.  You can substitute with cream of chicken or cream of broccoli or any other of your favorite cream soups.
**I don't do mushrooms.  I used to be able to tolerate cream of mushroom soups, but ever since pregnancy, I can't even handle that.  Instant gag reflex upon thought.

My Changes:

Because we love the soup-rice-onion mixture so much, I now double that portion.  Also, my husband prefers brown rice.  I used to do half white rice and half brown rice, but now I do all brown rice.  Here's how I usually do it:

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 can condensed cream of broccoli soup
3 cups water
1-1/2 cups uncooked rice
skip the mushrooms
1 large can of Durkee French Fried Onions
3-4 chicken breast halves (depends on how many people will be eating)
paprika
pepper



In a 3 quart baking dish, mix soup, water, rice, and 1/2 can onions.  Arrange chicken on top.  Sprinkle with paprika and pepper.

Bake at 375 degrees for one hour.  Top with remaining onions, and bake for another 3-5 minutes or until onions are golden brown.


A Failed Experiment:

I found a neat recipe for Cream of Something Soup mix on Pinterest.  I made up some and put it in a airtight container.  [Tangent - I thought I had blogged about this already, but I couldn't find it.  Has anyone ever seen a post by me about it?]  I've been anxious to try it out, and I picked this Chicken and Rice Bake to be my guinea pig.

First, here's the ingredients for the mix:

1 cup non-fat dried milk

3/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup bouillon*

4 Tablespoons freeze dried minced onions

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon pepper

For the equivalent of one can of condensed cream soup, mix 1/3 cup dry mix with 1-1/4 cup water. Cook until thick.

*I couldn't find bouillon in the soup aisle of Walmart.  However, I looked in the Latino section and found some there.  This worked out better because it's a larger bottle of powdered bouillon instead of the cubes which would have to be crushed and ground up.  I used the chicken flavor since I've never heard of anybody needing "cream of beef soup."

I measured out 2/3 cups of the mix and 2-1/2 cups of water and cooked it while I mixed up the rice and onions.  I initially put the heat on too high and had to really stir to get the stuff on the bottom up.  I hoped it would add flavor.  I noticed a difference between the 3 cups of water needed for the recipe and the 2-1/2 cups needed to make the soup.  I meant to add an extra cup of water (and really, I should've added the full extra 3 cups), but I got sidetracked.  That's life with a toddler -- not to mention life with a husband who had the day off that day!  :-)

I added the soup as it was to the rice and onions and shoved it in the oven.  An hour later, I took it out of the oven and was horrified at the results.  It looked both overcooked and undercooked at the same time.  Overcooked because it was a dark brown mess; undercooked because the rice on top was not cooked.  We were actually going to out to eat that evening (for our anniversary), but since I already had this out, I cooked it, and put it in the fridge to eat the next day.  Upon eating it, we discovered that the chicken was very dry.  We finished our portions (Robert added BBQ sauce to his chicken - a sure sign he didn't like it), and we gave the remainder to the dogs who gobbled it right up.

My mistake was in not adding enough water.

Here's what I should've done:

1.  Cook the Cream of Something soup mix (2/3 cups mix plus 2-1/2 cups water).

2.  Mix 1-1/2 cups rice and half of the onions.  Add the soup plus 3 cups of water.  Mix it all up.

3.  Arrange chicken on top.  Sprinkle with paprika and pepper.

4.  Bake at 375 degrees for one hour.  Sprinkle remaining onions on top, cook additional 3-5 minutes.

If anybody tries this (the Cream of Something mix) with this Chicken and Rice Bake recipe before I do, please comment and tell me how it goes.

I still have high hopes for the Cream of Something soup.  I know it'll save money in the long run.

Another thing, unless you want to make a ton of it using the whole box of dry milk, I would recommend giving away the remaining dry milk to someone else who would like to use it.  I gave some to my mom and some to my other sister-in-law when I saw them over Thanksgiving.  My mom was excited about it -- and she asked about adding mushrooms to it.  I didn't know about that and didn't care since I don't do mushrooms.  However, she showed me a recipe she wanted to try that called for something that sounded like "mushroom base organic" that made it sound like a type of bouillon. So it may be possible.

Original Source:

Source: 1orangegiraffe.blogspot.com via Ava on Pinterest

Old Enough to Know Better

Sometimes I wonder how I'm going to come up with new ideas for posts on my blogs.  I shouldn't worry.  Everyday life usually provides some fodder. And today is no exception.

I did something rather stupid today (Thursday).  My toilets needed cleaning, badly.  I usually use the Clorox drop-ins to help with automatic cleaning, and they had evidently long been dissolved.  I put it off (I know, gross, right?) until this morning, I decided to finally "eat the frog" (which is a productivity tactic of doing what you dread the most first to get it out of the way).

I dug under the main bathroom sink to find the toilet cleaner, something called The Works which my husband had bought some time before.  I had thrown away my toilet scrubber and had not replaced it (but will be soon!).  I decided to just use a washcloth.

So I squirted the stuff in there and went to work -- without gloves.  I wanted it done quickly, you see, and never even THOUGHT about there being any danger.  I noticed that my hands started itching, so after I cleaned the first toilet, I washed with soap and water.  I moved on to my bathroom and, same thing, itchy hands.  I washed my hands, then decided to look on the back of the bottle. Hazardous!  Use Gloves!  If it gets on skin, call Poison Control!   Whaaaaat?  So I ran cold water over my hands for about 5 minutes, and then called Poison Control for the first time in my life.  Fortunately, I already had the number in my phone.

Here it is for you:  1-800-222-1222  Put it in your phone.  You never know when you might need it!  (And, by the way, they also have a free app!)

The lady was very helpful.  She told me to run my hands under running water for another five minutes and to treat like any other burn, putting cold compresses on it throughout the day.  She asked me how old I was.  I told her, "39 - old enough to know better."  She kinda laughed and said it happens to all of us.

My hands were still red and I could imagine blisters forming.  I debated on calling my doctor and making my appointment.  I like my doctor, but I do NOT like the long wait time, especially with a cranky toddler.  This is my regular primary physician, not my OB-GYN.  My OB-GYN can do no wrong (after all, she delivered my baby).

Reading on the back of The Works bottle, I found out that the stuff is 20% hydrogen chloride, some derivative of hydrochoric acid, big bad stuff in the chemical department.  I started off as a chemistry major, switched to science education with a chemistry minor.  Don't be too impressed: I've forgotten 95% of anything I ever learned.  Except that HCl is some bad stuff.  I remember making the Lab TA get it for me because I was scared of the stuff!  This is the same reason why I do not clean my oven.  That is my husband's job, and before that, my mom's job.  Nope, not kidding, not touching it.

I remembered that the home remedy for getting jalapeno juice on your hands is to putting your hands in milk.  So I poured some milk in an oval, french white baking dish, and dipped my hands in.  COLD!  But it did the trick!  The redness went away.  I have it sitting on the counter to dip in every so often.

Now I think I will be on the lookout for some nonhazardous cleaning supplies.  I already tossed The Works in the trash.  Not going through that again!  I may just use some shampoo I don't like; after all, FlyLady says "soap is soap."

Dishwasher Tip

 

This is what happens when you put a plastic glass on the bottom rack of the dishwasher.  Even though this results in a rather cool-looking glass, I don't recommend doing this.

We had to go "all plastic" after Gracie pulled off a placemat with a drinking glass on it, causing it to bust on the floor.  (My fault for leaving it there, but I guess I never thought she'd try to get it that way.)