The Fruits of Our Labors

March came in like a lamb and went out like a lamb.  In fact, we have been enjoying the weather so much we keep forgetting to get out the camera.

Spring is officially here though. The work we put in last Fall to plant some bulbs has come to full fruition and I have had a happy little garden of daffodils to greet me this spring.  They're so cheery, it makes me happy to look at them! 

Although we missed most of the month, we did however record the end of it.  We had a great Spring Break and Easter at home with my parents.  I don't know if they considered it much of a break though since we put them to work on a few major projects while they were here. 

You might have noticed that I'm not much of a seamstress, I don't even own a machine, however our trampoline badly needed some new pads.  My mom brought some material they had lying around and some heavy duty nylon thread, plus my friend let me borrow her sewing machine. So while my mom was here we made new pads together!  Okay, so my mom did almost all of the sewing because every time I sat down at the machine it had a conniption and the bobbin knotted up and we had to un-pick it all (I don't own a sewing machine, so I obviously don't have a seam ripper and it was very irritating, so it was better for us both if she did most of the sewing). They actually turned out great and I'm so pleased. Now the baby can jump on it safely without fear of his leg going through the springs.

Before

After

Before

After

My Dad wasn't left out of the fun of course.  I found a perfect project for him and my husband.  My husband isn't much of a mechanic, although he does own a very basic set of tools. I sent them to a salvage yard (my husband's first time) to find a new door for our car since when we bought it it had a huge dent in the side.  They successfully found one that matched, took off the old one, and put the new one on (despite the many "helpers" they had around) and voila!  It looks so much better! 

We definitely capitalized on their visit, I hope they don't feel too used.  I made sure to take care of them well though, feeding them good food and taking them to some of our favorite places.  

Mmmm... Crepes.

They were here for our Easter Bunny Saturday celebrations (we celebrate the true meaning of Easter on Sunday and try not to mix the two).  Since it was good weather, the Easter bunny decided to be tricky and hide the baskets outside.  The kids had fun finding them.  

 Bubble swords were a big hit.

We went for a walk by the fishing ponds and lo and behold they were having a free fishing event.  They gave us rods and bait and the place had been recently stocked.  Well, that still didn't mean we had any luck (we've talked about how it's called fishing, not catching for a reason right?).  I didn't mind that much since it was such a beautiful day.

We also had a picnic later at a park near the lake.  We ate in peril of the fuzzy worm things falling from the trees and into our dinner every time the wind blew.  Quite the adventure.  At least the kids had fun climbing the trees.

It was a good weekend.  (...Until I had to sing a solo in church as part of our Easter program, but that's for another post.)

Homemade Sandbox

I have a love/hate relationship with sandboxes. I love how they keep the kids entertained outside in the fresh air for so long, but I hate sand in my house, all over the patio, and on heads and in diapers.

We built this sandbox a couple years ago and the kids loved it.

However, we moved several times and it never got set up again we just hauled the sand around in a big tupperware storage bin.  The problem with that was that the kids didn't like bending over to play in the sand and so they brought the sand out to where they could play with it comfortably (meaning all over my patio).  Also, when they wanted to add water, it stayed wet forever in the tub. Our sandbox has a canvas bottom (the same kind of ugly canvas as the lid -we got it at the thrift store for really cheap) so the water can drain out easily.  Overall it wasn't working for us and we either had to give up on sand altogether, or we had to rebuild the sandbox.

So this Fall we moved into a house that didn't have anything but grass in the backyard.  It's nice and big, with plenty of room for the kids to run around, but they were bored and wouldn't stay outside for very long. So we finally decided to resurrect the sandbox, adding in a new feature that we hoped would encourage the kids to play in the sandbox but not "in" the sandbox if you know what I mean (see above).

Benches!

not that they always use the benches...

  Not only that, but the benches are also the lid!!

This was taken a different day than the above pictures. It was raining. Otherwise they would have been playing in it.

We are also planning to add a lock for when kids lose sandbox privileges for doing things like this:

This was when it was in that blue tupperware. Apparently wet sand is fun to throw.

  or this:

  

 

  ...and thus continues my love/hate relationship with sandboxes.

Heaven.

The other place.

Ah sand.  Can't we just get along?

How to buy a used car, and not get suckered.

I recently bought a car.

I won't say new, although it is new to us, because it's definitely used.  It was actually for my husband to drive to and from work, but because I'm more picky and he's more of a push-over, I usually do the car shopping. It is an exhausting process (no pun intended), and not one that I like to do very often, but with an ever expanding family, and increasingly complex schedules, we keep having to do it. Honestly, I don't know how we survived with only one car this long.
Anyway, this is a list of things I've learned in the midst of this process and over the years and I thought I'd share my tidbits of wisdom with anyone who cares to listen.

 #1.  Plan on looking for a long time.  Don't imagine that you'll find the right car right away.  Patience. (Hopefully this is a possibility for you, I imagine there are circumstances where you can't wait, and I wish you the best of luck.)

#2.  Make friends with a certified mechanic, preferably in another state, who has nothing to gain by his answers to your questions, but is truly concerned for your welfare. (I am lucky enough to have a best friend who's brother-in-law is a certified mechanic in Utah, I trust him).  Bug him lots with every question that may come up, and get his honest opinion of every make, model, and year of every car that you may be considering. After all is said and done, bake him cookies.

#3.  To save yourself some phone calls to said mechanic friend, invest in consumer reports and read them religiously --knowing exactly which cars to stay away from. Also look at Kelly Blue Book (KBB) prices to know how much each car that you find should be worth, taking the condition and mileage into account. A good website I found, www.carcomplaints.com is also pretty helpful, although remember that there's going to be relatively more complaints for more popular cars, but take a look at the seriousness of those complaints --fog lights burning out = not a problem, transmission falling out = big problem. Also be aware of how much certain repairs might cost you.  Some are worth more than the car itself.

#4. To save yourself even more time, don't even bother with any German made cars, Dodge the Dodges and Chevys, and don't bother with salvage or "branded" titles, especially if you ever want to re-sell the car.

#5. When looking at a car, check:  Mileage (some cars can get more than others just fine, and different kinds of miles are better than others --just be aware of what you're getting and how that affects the worth by KBB standards), tires (-especially look for weird wear patterns like if just the inside or outside of the tread is worn you may have alignment issues), tailpipe for soot( means it's burning oil or something), rust around the wheel wells and on the body, under the car for oil leaks. If you can, look at the engine for signs of leaking, rusting, or corrosion, and in the trunk for dead bodies.  j/k

#6. When test-driving, make sure all the dash lights go on when you first half-turn the key (and make sure they eventually turn off), and of course listen for weird noises on start-up and as you're going.  Test the lights, blinkers, A/C, heater, and sound system as well as power stuff like windows and locks and stuff. Even manual windows, if they don't open or close it may be a sign that the frame of the car is bent or something (this goes for doors as well). Make sure the speedometer works, because if it doesn't probably the odometer is wrong as well.  While driving, try out all gears, listen to and be aware of the feel of the brakes.  If possible, have someone follow you to see if any smoke is coming out of the exhaust while on a straightaway let go of the steering wheel for just a moment, and see if the car pulls to one side or the other.  Pull into an empty parking lot and do some figure eights to test the steering and listen for sounds.  Go over a few speedbumps to feel how the shocks are holding up. Be aware of the smells of the car --exhaust, brakes, smoke, dead bodies, etc.  And if possible, go ahead and take it to a mechanic to have them look it over, or at least one of those free emissions testing stations (but again, make sure it's someone who has nothing to gain).

#7.  If you're buying from a dealer, cash-in-hand can often save you up to $500, they really perk up when you use this phrase, and are more willing to cut you a deal. (Don't actually have the cash in your hand, or even on your person, they'd probably send their thugs after you once you left. It's just a way of saying you're willing to pay the whole amount on the spot with cash. If you really like the car, you could maybe take it for a test drive to your bank).  I personally don't buy a car unless I have the funds, but I know that's not always possible, and I've been pretty lucky in those regards.  I'm also pretty cheap, and don't mind old cars, but I do want reliable ones and get the best I can with the limited funds I have.

#8.  If you're a woman, they'll probably patronize you and think you don't know anything about cars. "This is a great car... see how shiny the rims are?" (yeah, I actually had a guy try that one on me.)  Try to channel that inner lumberjack, throw around words like 4 cylinder or V6 even though you don't know exactly what they mean or even look like, and tell a few white lies like, "Yeah, my dad is a mechanic," to give yourself credibility. Always be skeptical, and don't let scripture verses on their business cards fool you.

#9. Anticipate title and document fees (which can be anywhere from 50 to 200 hundred dollars depending on the dealer and how big of crooks they are, er... I mean, how they do things), don't be afraid to haggle.  If' you're not a haggler, at least talk them into including the taxes and fees in the total asking price of the car. To avoid those all together, and the exorbitant prices that dealers can charge (they do have to make a living you know) try to buy straight from the owner.  You'll have to beat the dealers to them, because that's often where they get their cars from. Keeping up on the ads, being diligent, knowing what's out there and staying ahead of things in those regards will help.

#10.  Remember that nothing is guaranteed with an old or used car, and things may still go wrong.  Go with your gut feeling, work hard at it, and you may just end up getting a deal.


Now I am not by any means an expert on cars. This probably isn't the most complete list out there, but I did my homework, gleaning as much as I could from friends and family (my dad actually is a mechanic, he's just not certified, or even paid as one, but he can fix most things). I searched high and low, and each time it took me more than a week or two to find what I was looking for.  But to my credit, over the last 8 years, I have gone through this process and bought three used cars; two of which (because I just got the third) I was able to sell for more than what I bought them for, even after driving them for several years --and I think the people I sold them to still got a good deal too. 

Anyway, hope this helps. Let me know if there's anything else you can think of.

Home sweet home

We have a home!  

Hey, it could be worse...

So, we moved, we survived.  I don't really want to go into all the details, nor am I going to bore you with pictures of the messy process again. I don't even know why we take those pictures; who wants to be reminded of that?  I will however get real pictures up as soon as I get around to it (hows that for commitment?).

Okay, two months later, I'm finally getting around to adding a real picture of our new house. Or at least the front door. Lovely isn't it? I love the roses.

I'm still getting over a terrible case of bronchitis (which the dr. was convinced was pneumonia, but the chest x-ray was inconclusive) which I'm sure was caused by all the wildfire smoke in the air combined with my weakened immune system from the stress of the move.   I think I get sick just about every move. Anyway, Now that we're settled, I'm finally back to blogging again.  Yay!

By the way, this was number 14 for us (15 if you count moving in together after we were married).  Yikes!  I'm surprised it went as smoothly --okay actually I'm not that superstitious.  And it was only smooth compared to the move exactly one year ago, (find that story here). One funny story though -- although this probably just shows what an airhead I am --  and I say funny, because I can laugh at it now, but at the time I balled, because I just couldn't handle it...

So after weeks of searching, I found a suitable rental for us to live in.  In fact, this particular property management place had several that seemed to fit our needs, and I could apply for them all with only one application, and one fee!  There was one in particular that I felt really good about and so had one of my good friends who lives in the area go check it out for me (long-distance house finding is such a pain, I'm glad I have friends here at least).  She liked it, I liked it,  and once our application was approved, I decided to choose that one.  One of the other possibilities happened to be just down the road, but I decided against it because it was a little more expensive and there were no trees in the backyard.

Well, when we got here and got the keys to go look at the property right before signing the lease, we drove up to our new rental and found that there were people living in our house!
Okay, so that was the first thing that crossed my mind anyway.  The second, and more rational conclusion I finally came to prompted me to look at the keys they had given me.  Sure enough, it was for the other house on the same street, just one number of the address was different.
I don't know where the mistake happened along the way, whether it was my fault or theirs, but what a shock!  I mean, I had been prepping the boys by telling them about the few features I knew about the house --like for example: the purple carpets, and the nearby bike path, and I had even thought ahead for once and changed our address with the post office and all our banks and such to that address. *smacks head*

Well, obviously we couldn't kick those other people out, and the property management place refused to work with us when it came to the higher rent, saying that if we didn't want the house, they'd sell it to someone else tomorrow.  (Yeah, they knew the position we were in --car full of tired kids, all our stuff in a truck, and a storage unit that needed to be emptied that day.)  They wouldn't take any responsibility for the mistake whatsoever or even be sympathetic. Grrr.

The happy ending is that we find ourselves in a really nice house actually.  In fact, our stuff is almost too shabby for this place. It's newer and bigger than the other, with automatic sprinklers, and I figure we won't mind not having any shade in the backyard during the winter --I might not even have to rake leaves this Fall.

Either way, we have a house...with a roof, and walls, and doors, and that's what matters.  The kids love having a room separate from the baby, and I love having a room period (yeah, the futon in the living room wasn't really doing it for me).  Not to mention our own bathroom and walk-in closet --which are two luxuries we've never had and I hardly know what to do with all this space!

It's finally starting to feel like home, and although I miss the beautiful mountains and cool fresh air and all our friends in Wyoming, I think we'll be happy here.  :)

At least until we move again next year.   :P

A Few Fun Projects --Rock Pets, Magnet Fun, and Sun-dried Fruit Leather

So I have a few recent handmade ideas I thought I'd share.  

What was at first a way to keep the kids occupied while I got stuff done ("Go outside and find me some cool rocks!"), turned into a fun project with the kids one day.  They found a couple nice round rocks (the order of the day) and I decided to make some rock pets with hot melt glue.

They turned out super cute, but with just hot melt glue, they couldn't stand up to being handled by kids, so they turned into fun garden ornaments instead.  I'll have to figure out what kind of fast-setting glue would work better for holding rocks together.

So while I was in Utah,  I made the most of the resources available to me, as usual.  

When my oldest son found an abandoned speaker by the side of the road, he wanted to smash it open to get the large magnet out.  (He had just learned that speakers have magnets a few days earlier when his cousins found a smashed sub-woofer and got that huge magnet out.)  He was so excited to use a big hammer to smash something too. 

Well, this magnet wasn't quite as big, but it seemed almost stronger.  We had to go over magnet etiquette a bunch before releasing the kids to roam around with a super powerful magnet (...no going near TVs, computers, phones -basically anything with a cord or battery, not to mention painted objects such as cars).  It was a very educational activity as well, allowing the kids to discover certain properties of various objects.  Finally, we made a fun toy out of a clear plastic container and some metal shavings from under my dad's metal lathe.

Also while in Utah, we got to sample a bit of the summer harvest, my mother has an apricot tree, but alas, to the kid's disappointment, they weren't quite ripe.  However, my mom, who can't stand any kind of waste, still puts up as much fruit as she can each year.  Now that all seven of her kids have moved away, she doesn't have as many people at home to help eat it (although we do our best each time we come to visit).  So, to help her rotate some of that old fruit, we put her old bottled apricots and peaches to good use making homemade fruit leather!

This stuff was older than my first child, and a bit discolored and mushy, but still tasted fine and was safe to eat.

 We drained off the syrup,

And blended it, about 6 cups worth, along with 2 TBS lemon juice, and 2 TBS Honey.  (We did end up picking some apricots from neighbor's trees that were a little riper, and with the fresh fruit, I added 2 more TBS of honey since it didn't have the extra sweetness from the syrup).

I spread out some freezer paper on my parent's trampoline, securing it with clothespins, and sprayed it with cooking spray (actually, the first batch, I forgot that VERY important step and had to throw it all away because I couldn't get it off the paper --so sad!  If you try this don't forget the cooking spray! Pam it!).  

Then I poured/spread 6" circles of the mixture on the paper about a 1/4 in thick.  To make it even and smooth, I tapped on the trampoline next to each circle to flatten it out a bit.  It worked great.

We hit the weather perfectly, since it reached a very dry 100 degrees on a mostly wind-less day, and it only took about 6-7 hours for these to dry out.  (There have been years when the weather didn't cooperate for trampoline drying, but otherwise this is a great method for high-volume dehydration).

Once they were dry, they came right off the paper and I rolled them up and put them in freezer storage bags.  I left the bags open to allow them to cure for a few days, getting rid of any extra moisture just in case --like you would for dehydrated fruit, so they would store well without any danger of mold (not that I needed to store them though, they didn't last much longer than a few weeks anyway, maybe if I had been there longer to make more... all this was the product of just one day). 

I have to admit that this is my favorite way to enjoy apricots, well, next to jam -but I have a feeling this is healthier.

Delicious!