Months: 9, Weeks: 40

That is how long I have been on my zero day challenge!! Part of me is pretty proud of myself and part of me is a little discouraged with myself. I say this because I think I have made a pretty good start to my list - but then I think I should have more done already.

Today I am going to spend a little time telling you what I have been doing, what is in the works etc. I am trying to get back into the swing of posting to my stamping/crafty blog. Because it has been hard for me to post weekly to it, I changed the guidelines to that particular line item. My goals is to post 143 times prior to the deadline instead of weekly. It will balance out to be the same number of posts. I did post today.

Over my upcoming vacation I am planning to do either scrapbook or make some christmas or upcoming birthday cards. Speaking of birthday cards - I have changed the guidelines to be something more realistic. Instead of 15, I have changed it to 5 (Matt and Kids) - they are what are most important to me. If I make other birthday cards - yeah for me! There is not reason to stress myself over cards that very few appreciate!

Family Game/Movie night is still a hit here - it tends to be more movies than games - but I think over all it equals out. Geocaching is awesome and great exercise. We have gone out twice and found caches both times. The girls are excited to do this more and I enjoy it too. It can get frustrating when you walk in circles and the darn tootin cache is litterly right under your nose. We have placed a trackable cache in memory of Papaw! The girls hope to see it travel to every state as they would have loved to travel with him. It will be great to see where Rocky the Raccoon ends up next. He has been picked up from the cache we put him in and he is on his way to a new location!

Speaking of traveling - in June we are planning a vacation to the UP of Michigan for a camping trip. We are also new owers of a permanent campsite in Andover Ohio and we will be spending a lot of time there this summer - we can not wait!

Going Green - This has been a topic of conversation in our house lately. This is because we are hoping to sell this house and build a new one in about 5 years. We are going to look into building a 'Green' home. I am going to looking to grant/gov't programs to see if there is funding for such projects. We have heard that there was. To become more environmently friendly home and eat healthier we are now raising our own chickens for eggs (less packaging and better quality eggs) and have a great start to a garden (no chemicals, better fruits and veggies)! We have 7 hens and 1 rooster we believe. The girls love them and they are so tame - they love when we go in the coop to visit. In the garden we have planted so far - strawberries, potatoes, lettuce, onions, beans, squash, zuchinni, tomatoes, broccoli and cucumbers. I still plan to add pumpkin, watermelon, honey dew, cantalope and pickling cucumbers!

Date nights - they are coming together and Matt and I have enjoyed our time together - some nights is just us staying up until the wee hours watching movies! Its great! I will be glad for more time with him once all these projects are completed....but are you ever done with projects?

I am almost done purging for the yard sale - we are tentatively scheduled for June! I can not wait to get this stuff out of the house!! I belive the twins rooms is almost done and what is left is our bedroom. I was going to do the kitchen - but then it turned out that most of the 'extra' went to the camper - it is nice that we have found a use for it and we did not have to buy too much additional things! I have two flower bed by my patio. We pulled up the plants in the one and moved them to the other as there was little in both. One is now a garden and the other is full of flowers. I am so glad that we have one decent flower bed going. We are working on the beds in the front of the house and we will be done!!!

Are you bored yet? Well I have posted a 'missing persons' add on Facebook for my bioligical father - here. I got a response from a lady and she says she knows him - its a long story and now after her messaging me she has never told me anything about him. I am bummed - I feel so close. I will keep bugging this person until she either gives me a response or tells me to hit the road.
Becoming more Frugal is a big thing for me - I want me money to go as far as possible. Coupon clipping is a big thing around here (for me) - I love the weeks where I am saving about $90 or more! I have also done surveys and look for free things online that we as a family can use. I love finding coupons for free things!

Lastly, I am thinking it will be hard to do any Aflec paperwork - my job has switched them out with another company. But I am looking into that. And some of those books that have been collecting dust are getting read - that 9 hour ride to Michigan should help me with that!

Please see my pictures below:

These are our Hens - the Rooster is in there too - but I can not pick him out from the photo.
Their names are Ashley (black hen) Cheesecake (white hen) Rocky and Bullwinkle (gray/black hens) Chocolate, Brownie, Carmel and Praliene (are the red hens/rooster).

These are the 3 BIG pigs....they eat everything....We didn't name them.

This is our new camper - its getting a make over right now.

The potatoes are poking out.

The Garden - some plants are doing well - some have about drowned with all the rain that we have been getting.

Madelyns Giant Cabbage - its for a scholarship programs that she is growing it for.

The new flower bed - with very beat down plants - hopefully in a few weeks I can get a better photo.

Apples, Apples - Read all about it!!
This is only a small amount of apples compared to what we have had around here lately! We are lucky enough to have a connection with a local Amish farm that gives us the 'seconds' from their produce stand. Seconds are basically the produce that we pass up because of its shape, size or bruising. So, I took these apples and have made homemade apple jelly, applesauce and apple butter. I have also made Apple Fritters! We also received peaches, onions, potatoes and beans. I have canned all of it except for a little bit of apples that are left - so I will make more applesauce with no cinnamon for Madelyn as she likes it plain.
Below are photos of my canning and Madelyn helping me make the first batch of apple butter.

Apple Fritters:

2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 T baking power

1 t nutmeg

1 t cinnamon

1 t salt

2 eggs

1.5 c milk

2 quarts oil for deep frying

4 large apples, peeled and cored

1/2 c confectioner's sugar for dusting

carmel syrup

Mix the first 8 ingredients together - this will resemble pancake batter. Wash, peel and core the apples - slice as desired.

Heat oil to 375 degrees in a fryer, or heavy bottomed pot.

Pat apples dry, dip in batter and place into oil - cook until both sides are golden brown, turning once. Drain on paper towels, dust with powdered sugar and carmel if desired.

Lastly, our GPS will be here tomorrow - I won it on Ebay for $83 - I found the same GPS priced as high as $480 - so I think we got a good deal. I can not wait to take the girls geocaching - I think this is going to be something fun that we will be able to do often!

Thanks for stopping by - this challenge has given me a change to feel acomplished!

The girls are getting excited - we have made our tradeable items for Geo-Caching. We made 14 ceramic tile magnants (for details on that go to http://www.stampingwithbettyboop.blogspot.com/). So we have 3 spots to locate - once Matt figures out the best GPS for us we are going to go on our excursion - I will be sure to take photos.

We also have started 2 more things on the list - Melaluca-nizing the home and Going Green - since these two things are the same. I purchased the Sol-u-mel all purpose cleaner, the fabric softener, diswashing detergent and Mela-gel. Let me tell you - so far so good. The fabric softener smells good, works good, and you use very little. The Sol-u-mel in full strength removes the permanant marker that has been on my kitchen table forever!! I also cleaned my bathroom with the Sol-u-mel - the sinks, counters, tub, toliet and shower - the soap scum, grime you name it - this stuff removed it! Since it is not a harsh product I did not gag the whole time while using it - no sneezing either!!! The dishwashing detergent also seems to be working well - and you use half the amount that a regular store brand. Lastly, the Mela-gel - an anticeptic gel - is AWESOME! Brooke got stung by a bee we think and she was screaming to the point of not breating - that gel was put right on the stink and she was perfect. The swelling went down in a very minimal amount of time and she didn't seem to be bothered by anyone touching the spot. That is awesome!

The quilt and camper projects have been at a standstill with all of the family events we have been doing together - the fair, air show, starting school etc. As soon we get back to these projects I should have something to update you on!

Lastly, I think we finished up with the last of the potatoes - so I wanted to share how I processed all of it for freezing:

Mashed potatoes: I decided to do homestyle potatoes because I did not have to peel them - so I washed and cut up a large pot of potatoes - boiled until ready. Once I drained the potatoes I poured them into a large bowl - I mashed the potatoes to the partly lumpy stage mainly because I made so much of them. I added milk and mixed well. Then I separated the potatoes into gallon sized ziplock bags. Smooched them flat getting as much air out as possible. I made 3 ziplock bags of potatoes and the store nicely in the freezer. To prepare to eat - I thawed the potatoes, poured into a bowl - microwaved for about 10 minutes - added seasoning,butter and milk - mixed well with a mixer and well-la yummy mashed potatoes.

French Fries/hashbrowns/potato wedges etc.: wash and peel potatoes if desired - cut into fries - blanch fries in boiling water for about 5 minutes - once they are well drained place in a single layer on a cooking sheet. I put them into the freezer for about 1-2 hours. Then I pour them into ziplock bag. Pre-freezing in a single layer allows you to take and cook what you need and they are not stuck together. If they do start to stick you are able to tap the bag on the counter to break them up. You can cook these potatoes as desired.

I have seasoned fries made up too - after they were blanched, drained I pour the seasoning over the potatoes on the cookie sheets before putting in the freezer. When ready to use - throw into the over at 350 to bake for about 20-30 minutes.