We tried a new recipe today:

Salmon with Lemon and Dill
Ingredients:
1 pound salmon fillets
1/4 cup butter, melted
5 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon dried dill weed
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
sea salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste
Directions:
1.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a medium baking dish.
2.
Place salmon in the baking dish. Mix the butter and lemon juice in a small bowl, and drizzle over the salmon. Season with dill, garlic powder, sea salt, and pepper.
3.
Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until salmon is easily flaked with a fork.

I liked the salmon for the most part, but not sure if I personally would make it for myself again - Matt said the spices were a little strong for him - like really strong on top and bland at the bottom. So, this recipe will not qualify as a fish recipe that the family likes :(

On Tuesday, I took my mom to the social security office - she has applied for 3 different types of SS. I am now working with her case worker at job and family services to help her with medicaid, foodstamps etc. I also got her hooked up with a free cell phone through http://www.safelink.com/ - they give her a phone and free minutes monthly. I hope this helps me stay in contact with her while we get through all of these application processes. I then took here to get breakfast and get a few basic things that she needed grocery wise - she thought I was going to restock her place. I wish I could but I too have bills and food to put onto the table. I hate telling her no, but I just can not support her. Then she wanted ciggerettes - knowing that I had to take Grace to preschool I told that I just did not have the time to run store to store. Everytime she comes to the house she acts as if she is starving - maybe she is, and she is in dire need for that 'drag'. I do not smoke and from what I recall I have no addictions (except to chipotle - but being that I work from home now it is not readily available to me) so I do not know what it is like to 'need' something nor do I ever want to experience that. But, I also feel that if you can't afford it you just shouldn't do it. She basically puts the little money she gets monthly towards prepaid cell phone minutes and ciggerettes - not rent or electric or even FOOD. I can only do so much - but in my book ciggerettes are not a need its a want. Anyway - I hope this journey with my mom helps my relationship with her, but its truely hard at times. I feel that I can not bond with her because its like talking to my 4 year old.

I finally posted on my other blog - http://www.stampingwithbettyboop.blogspot.com/ check it out. I have decided that because I am behind on posting there I will need to complete posting to the blog 143 in 1001 days for me feel that I 'techincally' completed that task. Hopefully with all of the goals that I want to complete I should have plenty to choose from.

I really appreciate all of the support I am getting through this process. At least at this point I do not feel overwhelmed with this large 'to do' list and am starting to feel accomplished with things in my life - rather than just feeling like all I do is chase 4 kids around and work. I really don't have a lot of time for the things I want to do - rather I, at times just do not make the time. In any case - I am just glad this personal challenge is going well as it makes me feel good about myself.

A quick update!

I have been pretty busy like normal. But I have my mom set up on a waiting list for low income housing and a meeting with Social Security - tomorrow I will take her to get signed up etc. I placed my first Melaluca order to start the process of Melaluca-nizing my home - I got fabric softener, dishwasher detergent and some SolUMel oh and some Mela-gel. Brooke got stung/bit by something on Saturday and that gel took the sting out right of her hand. She calmed in seconds. I also have 2 of the 3 colors cut for Grace's quilt. I am thinking at the rate that I am moving I may be able to make each girl a quilt for their birthdays. Since, they have been watching the process I am going to try to find a way to dress it up so they will still be surprised when they get them. Matt has also made a lot of progress on the camper. The entire lid to the pop up has been reframed and put back together - now he is working on the front end of it where there was some damage. Lastly, I shot a gun this past weekend. It was a small handgun - forgive me for not knowing what it was but Matt is going to teach me to use his shotgun as well. I did hit the target even got a 'kill' shot on the sheet - I promise to get some of this stuff photographed to show all of you!

Another busy weekend…but I am starting to feel that I am accomplishing some of the things that I have set out to do.

*helped Matt when possible with the camper
*spent time with my mom
*started a quilt
*made laundry soap
*planned 2 wks worth of meals for a more organized shopping trip
*use more of my potatoes
*used my over ripe bananas before they hit the trash

On Friday, I thought it was Grace’s preschool orientation – well I get there (dressed nicely and with make up on J ) to find out that orientation was this coming up Thursday! Duh – I need to pay more attention! Well – I already had plans to pick up my mom to come to my house for the weekend. I helped her apply for social security, section 8 etc. So we went and picked her up a little earlier.

On Saturday, we all swam together and the Babies and I cheered Matt through the ‘fixer upper’ part of this camper process. I also made homemade french-fries to go with our dinner Saturday night.

On Sunday, I finally got out the hambones from the freezer and made a pot of Bean and Ham soup and Ham and Potato soup. I sent the majority of the Potato soup home with my mom so she would have something to eat, as I have no clue what she actually has. I made a loaf of banana bread, planned my dinner menus for 2 wks and made laundry soap concentrate that will make 10 gallons of detergent. I also started cutting the fabric for my first quilt - I will post the photos as I make a little more progress.

I wanted to crunch the $$ value of what the savings would be to our family. We typically buy a 92 (but in theory is really about 56 loads on average) load container of tide for around $20 every month. (about 36 cents a load)

Borax 3.36
Soda 2.16
2 bars of Dove Burst soap 2.97

This equates to $3.51 per 10 gallons of detergent (160 loads) = just around 2 cents per load…So the bottom line is we went from spending $20 a month to about an average of $1.17 a month for laundry detergent for a $14.04 a year to wash our laundry based on regular usage. I think that is AWESOME!

Laundry Soap Recipe
The Dry Version: (Thanks Wendy for sending this me!)
1 bar Fels Naptha Soap, finely grated1 cup Washing Soda1 cup Borax
Mix well and store in an airtight plastic container.
Use 2 tablespoons per full load

The Liquid Version:
1 bar Fels Naptha Soap, finely grated, 1 cup Washing Soda, 1 cup Borax
Grate soap into a small saucepan. Cover with hot water. Cook over medium low heat, stirring continually, until the soap completely dissolves. Put washing soda and borax in a 5 gallon bucket. Pour in the hot, melted soap mixture. Stir well, until all the powder is dissolved. Fill the bucket to the top with more hot tap water. Stir, cover securely, and let set overnight. The next morning, stir the mixture. Mix equal amounts of soap concentrate and water in a dispenser container. Shake before using. Use 1 cup per load.

**I used 2 bars of soap for the smell and suds factor - I could not find the Fels Naptha so I hope this works - from what I read it should.

Today, I decided to make homemade Salisbury Steak – something we typically buy prepackaged. It turned out wonderful! Here is the recipe:
1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed French onion soup
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder

DIRECTIONS
1. In a large bowl, mix together 1/3 cup condensed French onion soup with ground beef, bread crumbs, egg, salt and black pepper. Shape into 6 oval patties.
2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, brown both sides of patties. Pour off excess fat.
3. In a small bowl, blend flour and remaining soup until smooth. Mix in ketchup, water, Worcestershire sauce and mustard powder. Pour over meat in skillet. Cover, and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
I doubled the sauce, kept the ketchup amount the same. I also could not find this onion soup so I used dry onion soup mix and 10 oz of water (in addition to the ¼ cup water) Then I added dry beef onion soup mix to the gravy mixture. The kids loved it. After I fried them up in the pan I baked them in the over at 350 for 1 hour.

Lastly, I made the best chocolate chip cookies! I have been reading a lot about cookies to find the best combination of ingredients and I think I found it for my cookie recipe of the month! Here is the recipe:

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.