Down by the shore...

Mama's Money Jar

Do you see it nestled there?
Right there between the bins of Goo-Be-Gone and extension cords is MY little jar!

It's daily that I do a load of laundry around here, and let me tell you, it's daily that I find all sorts of treasures in the washing machine! I've washed phones, iPods, action figures, marbles...you name it, I've seen it!
I finally wised up and started thinking I could use this to my advantage - so I started my own little "tip" jar.
This is the money I've found after just a week's worth of laundry:

I figure it'll be good for an afternoon movie or a pedicure. When the kids balk at my going out alone, I'll tell them that it's all thanks to them that I get this little treat!

Hmmm...I wonder how much I can get for those two Gameboy cartridges?
Macy's here I come!
(just kidding!)

Why yes, I AM that anal....

I think organizing books by color is much more interesting than by subject or...

...that darned Dewey Decimal system!

And eventually Doug will figure out where his favorite books are!

A real pain in the....

HIP!

I don't know what I did or how I did it, but this weekend I ended up with some gawd-awful left hip pain!

Spent the weekend laying around eating ibuprofen and Aleve like candy. Hoping to feel better soon....lazing around for a while is GREAT, but I've taken all I want, I need to get back to LIFE!

Meatless Fridays

If this week is any indication, we will be eating LOTS of eggplant this summer! What could be more delicious than this traditional dish?
This week's Meatless Friday meal is:

Eggplant Parmagiana

1 3/4 cups Panko or Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 pounds eggplant, cut into 1/4 inch slices
4 large eggs
8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
2 jars of your favorite spaghetti sauce (extra points for homemade!)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine bread crumbs with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese in medium bowl. Dip eggplant in egg mixture, then bread crumb mixture, coating well. Arrange eggplant in single layer on lightly greased baking sheets. Bake 30 minutes or until golden.
Evenly spread 1 cup sauce in 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer 1/3 of the baked eggplant, then 1-1/2 cups sauce, 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese and 1/3 of the remaining Parmesan cheese; repeat. Top with remaining eggplant and sauce. Cover with aluminum foil and bake 45 minutes. Remove foil and top with remaining cheeses. Bake uncovered an additional 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

I *heart* iGoogle!

If you haven't signed on with iGoogle, do it now!
I love everything about it!
The calendar sends email reminders, I can keep documents (i.e. resumes, garden logs, etc...) on file and share with whoever I choose. I love my blog roll where I can read all my faves in one place instead of going from site to site.
I stumbled across another WONDERFUL feature while looking for a fax cover page:

Go to your iGoogle homepage
Go to upper left hand side and click the "more" tab.
Click "Documents"
Click the "Create New" tab in the upper left hand side.
Then click "from template"

From there you can browse literally thousands of templates in categories ranging from letters & faxes, to personal finance, presentation designs, and schedules.
Some personal favorites are the calendar, meal planning, and to-do lists! Not only do you just fill in and personalize but you can send them to certain groups (homeschooling, church, business) via email and then they can personalize/correct and send back to YOU!
For example:

On my calendar I can fill in my work and meeting schedule then email it to Doug and the older boys. Doug fills in his appointment/shooting schedule and the boys fill in their sports, scouts, and social schedules. We all get email reminders the day before an event and I can even print out an itinerary for the week! It also allows me to make and send individual lesson plans to the boys so they can either print it out or make notations and grades on the plan itself and send it back to me!

Trust me, if you are an anal list maker/planner/organizer like me,
iGoogle will make life much easier!

No Poo ~ Revisited

About a year ago I blogged about my attempts at giving up shampoo. You can read all about it HERE. The quick version is that shampoo can be really harmful to your hair. It strips it of its natural oils, coats it with chemicals, and some of those chemicals are absorbed into your body through your scalp.
I started using a tried and true mixture of baking soda and distilled water as a "shampoo" then used an organic apple cider vinegar rinse as "conditioner", the results were amazing! After about a week detox period, my hair was shiny, full of body, and I didn't need anything more than a little hairspray to keep my styles in place!

Recently, I've been browsing LearningHerbs.com. Our family has benefited from homeopathy for quite sometime now, and each year I'm trying to educate myself a little more on the growing and consumption of medicinal herbs. They just sent out a great article on making your own shampoo! I gleaned a bit of their info and decided to turn my own "shampoo" up a notch.

I cut some sprigs of rosemary and stuffed them into a pint jar along with some rose petals from my flower garden. Let me tell you, the smell was AMAZING!!! I filled the jar and set it in the sun to steep:

Isn't it pretty?

I'll add this "tea" to the water in my baking soda/water mixture. Rosemary is great for hair (among other things!) and the smell is divine!
I love being able to control the ingredients of the products we use for our family, not to mention that I can make a month's worth of "shampoo" for the price of a box of baking soda.....0.89 cents!

The sandbox

In an attempt to use of some of the 16 cubic yards of dirt that we ordered, Doug built the little guys a sandbox to play in.

It amazes me how much little boys are drawn to dirt.
Danny and JP can play for hours in this space.

Tell me, can a swim in the pool
or run through the sprinklers...

...substitute for bath time?

The first fruits of my labor!

Baby heirloom tomatoes:
Japanese eggplant:
Crookneck squash:
Flowering dill:
Apple blossoms:
Little figs:
Swiss chard and chives:

Meatless Fridays

The garden is coming along beautifully and due to the intensive planting that I've done, we're going to have boat loads of squash soon. In my humble opinion, there is no better way to eat squash than in a simple squash casserole! This is a yummy, filling dinner that even the kids will eat. Serve with garden salad of marinated cucumber and tomato. This week's Meatless Friday meal is:

Squash Casserole

7 yellow squash, sliced
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, sliced
2 eggs, beaten
1 bunch green onions, tops thinly sliced
salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
French fried onions for topping (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add squash and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes; drain. To the squash add milk, butter, eggs, green onion tops, salt, pepper, cheese, and sugar; mix well. Transfer to a 9x13 inch casserole dish. Sprinkle with fried onions. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.

Summer sewing

I am in LURVE with Simplicity pattern 2660!
It's my new summer dress pattern.
Only six pieces and I omit the zipper
('cause I do NOT do zippers!).
I can have it done in about two hours.

The funkier the fabric ~ the better!

The front pleating is very figure flattering....
'cause I'll take all the help I can get!

Memorial stones for the garden

This weekend we made memorial stepping stones for the garden. It was an emotional little project for me but the kids were very willing and happy to make these. Kyle was very thoughtful about his part of the project. He made little Mary Grace's stone with loving hands:

John Paul and Danny worked together to make Dominic's stone. They made a little angel ascending to Heaven with the glass beads:

We made little Anthony's stone a few days later (I only had two molds) and placed them all in our memorial garden. I think they look beautiful! It reminds us ALL to pray for them, remember them, and hopefully one day ~ to see them again!

Thanks George Lucas

A Star Wars marathon was on cable this weekend and now another Star Wars nerd, er...um...I mean FAN was born.

May the Force be with you young Jedi Dan.

Happy Star Wars Day to all you other fans out there
(no kidding! May 4th REALLY IS Star Wars day!)
Read about it HERE
...and may the fourth be with you!

Living the Liturgical Year

The Merry (Mary!) Month of May

May is traditionally the month of Mary, so in keeping with tradition, we celebrated the first day of May with a Marian crowning. We decorated our home altar, made coconut cake balls to celebrate, and even made a flower crown for our garden statue of the Blessed Mother. Doug read the Right of Crowning from the missalette and we all recited the Litany of Loretto.
John Paul and Daniel had the honor of bestowing crowns.
It was a lovely evening!

We also made little May baskets for our parish priests and sisters. We filled them with prayer cards, a spiritual bouquet, candy, and morning glory seeds (the variety was 'Heavenly Blue').

The boys secretly left them on the doorknobs to the rectory and convent!
I hope they were surprised!