Homemade Fun in the Sun

It is not child labor to turn the hose on, fill a five gallon bucket with soapy water, and hand rags and sponges to small children.  It is a blast!  

They took turns "rinsing the car" and chasing each other with the hose, squeals and shrieks filling the air.  The neighbors must have gone inside and closed all of their windows!  Good.

We're not sure that our two cars actually look any better than when they were pulled into the backyard (by Ivan!), but the kids are all snoozing away after playing so hard.

Starting at the top....

Don't forget the windows!

We start them young - 15 months old

"Just rewards?!  Are you serious?!"

Life is, after all, what you make it!  

Our Homemade Lives Homemade Detergent

We have been making our own homemade laundry detergent for three and a half years. Michelle received a five gallon bucket filled with all the supplies for her birthday!  It actually turned out to be a gift of saving thousands of dollars over the years.

About once a month we grab the cheese grater and grate a bar of Fels-Naptha laundry soap.  

This morning before all the children arrived at 7:00, Marah and Ivan helped with the final phase.

Grate the Fels-Naptha (this step took place yesterday)

Is he adorable at 6:30 in the morning?!

This is the consistency after sitting overnight

"Go ahead, make my day, punk."

Alright, 6:30 in the morning, we can figure this out.

Got it.

Stirrrrrrrr....

Whirrrrrr....

Ta-Da!!!!

Ingredients:

1 Bar Fels-Naptha soap, grated

1 Cup Arm & Hammer WASHING soda (NOT baking soda)

1/2 Cup Borax

4 Cups hot water

5 Gallon bucket

• Grate the bar of Fels-Naptha, and combine with water in saucepan
• Stir on low-medium heat until soap is fully dissolved (boiling ruins the soap)
• Fill your bucket with hot water until it's about half full and add in all ingredients
• Stir ingredients until well dissolved, and then top off with water.
• Let congeal overnight, and then stir, whir, and whiz with the drill bit until well dissolved

We distribute what is needed to our family until the last drop is used and start again.  It has saved us literally thousands of dollars.  This recipe is to be doubled with water, making ten gallons of laundry detergent.  

Marah uses one cap full (from a regular laundry detergent jug) per load of laundry. Michelle uses three caps full because....well, less is more or more is actually more, right?!

Step by Step....One Step at a Time!

We own and operate a preschool/daycare.  This year's theme is going to be focused on the solar system, the continents, oceans, a few countries, and down to the cities that each child dwells.

Marah on Jupiter

Michelle paints Neptune

We tapped into our creative, yet cheap, side and came up with the brilliant idea of painting these paper party lanterns in various sizes as the planets!  Very exciting!  Our plan is to create the solar system in the basement stairwell. Ha ha ha ha ha ha....we'll see how well this turns out and if anyone breaks a leg!

Marah is young; she'll do fine on the ladder....Michelle will stand at a reasonably safe distance and shout directions, "Little more to the left, Marah Jo-An!"

Whistlers Day

The men in our family hunt.  They start off very young being taught gun safety and head off to the wilderness to learn to track and kill animals.  That's right; that's what meat is: animals!  

This weekend was very exciting for our family as Ivan went to Whistlers Day, which is the event of the year for kids in the Quail Forever organization. 

                                         

Ivan did very well in listening and learning how to fire a .22 rifle.  He missed the instructional demonstration on how to skin a raccoon, but maybe next year when he is four years old.

It was rite of passage for our boy!

"You'll Be Late For The Sabbath!"

Every Saturday we host our family Sabbath dinner and Bible study.  (No, we’re not Jewish.  No, we’re not Seventh Day Adventists.)  

This is what we will be making for our dinner tomorrow:

·        

•  Roast by Michelle

Rolled rump roast (purchased from our favorite butcher shop, Landes; no antibiotics or growth hormones in these cows)

       ½ glass of sweet red wine

       1 tsp Real salt

       Lots of freshly ground pepper

       1 heaping Tbs of powdered beef broth

       Couple of bay leaves

http://www.landesfreshmeats.com/

First I brown the roast in a cast iron skillet with the perfect blend of melted butter and olive oil (just “some”).  Using grilling tongs I turn the roast over to get both sides and the ends just a little crispy; apply the salt and pepper to both front and back of the roast.  Prep the cook pot with the wine and beef broth and add the roast, oil, butter, and all to the cook pot.  Hand crush the bay leaves, toss them on top, and then secure the lid tightly.  I like this roast to slow cook in the oven for most of the day.  After hours of smelling the delicious aroma, everyone is hungry like lions.  Turn the oven to 250 ° and let that roast cook for several hours until it is fork tender and falling apart.  Meanwhile, use some coarse salt to clean the cast iron skillet and sample the wine!

•   Smashed Potatoes by Marah

One Idaho potato per person, plus one for the “pot”

One pkg of cream cheese per 6 potatoes

One big “chunk” of butter – we buy THE BEST butter EVER!  It comes in a giant roll and is made by the Amish.  I just cut off a BIG chunk…can yah tell we love our butter?!

One cup of sour cream

A dash of whipping cream (Enough to thin the potatoes)

Lowry’s Seasoning salt to taste (I like salty potatoes!)

A dash of salt and pepper

I am one SERIOUS recipe follower.  Always have been, always will be.  But for whatever reason, I follow no recipe when making these potatoes.  I just grab the needed amount of potatoes (usually 6), wash and peel them, cut them in chunks, and toss them in a pot of boiling water.  Let them boil for about 25 mins, then drain.  I grab this awesome mashing tool by Pampered Chef (http://www.pamperedchef.com/ordering/prod_details.tpc?prodId=15658&catId=96&parentCatId=96&outletSubCat= ) and give those potatoes a good smashing.  Next, I’ll add the butter, sour cream, and cream cheese and keep mashing until all of the ingredients are good and mixed together.  Then, I lick the masher…lick it clean!  Next, I’ll add enough whipping cream to get them to the desired consistency, and then add the Lowry’s, salt, and pepper.  This is my favorite part: grab a saucer and a spoon, and give them a proper test taste!  Accompany said test taste with some of the wine!! 

                           

•  Challah Bread by Rinaldo’s Bakery (http://www.rinaldosbakeshoppe.com/)  

                                            

•  Tossed Salad – tear clean romaine lettuce leaves, toss in some sliced cucumbers and  two handfuls of cherry tomatoes – serve with homemade buttermilk ranch dressing
•  Buttermilk ranch dressing:  1 carton of sour cream, 4 tsps dried buttermilk, 2 minced  garlic cloves, some dried cilantro, some dried dill, whisk together until blended
•  Sweet Red Wine by Manischewitz   

                                                                 

Shabbat Shalom!

We hope you find time to watch this wonderful clip from "Fiddler on the Roof":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRdfX7ut8gw

Mrs. Fix-It

You've gotta be kidding me!!!  No groceries in Michelle's house, husband gone for the rest of the week, and the car was stuck in the garage.  

We are talking Old Mother Hubbard!!

The garage door would not lift more than six inches.  No pulling, prodding, pushing the button 500 times moved it.   She called her husband.  Never give your husband a problem he cannot solve over the telephone when he is three hours away.  She called it a night and called in reinforcements in the morning:  Marah and Ivan with his plastic wrench and screwdriver to the rescue!  With the baby in the highchair so he wouldn't crawl away, three-year-old Ivan trying to direct two women, and both of us wearing maxi skirts in 95° weather, this is what transpired:

Yeah....it was totally stuck.

Marah:  ”Okay, let’s get down to business.”

Michelle:  ”I checked all the rollers and both tracks and nothing is stuck.”

Ivan:  ”Granny, do you need me to push the button?  Granny?”

Michelle:  ”I even prayed over this stinking door!”

Ivan:  ”Granny.  Granny.  Granny.  Do you need me to push the button?”

Marah:  “Let me try and lift it!” 

Ivan:  “Use your muscles, Mommy!”….

Michelle:  “Ivan, get away from that door in case it crashes!  Pray for Mommy!  She’s a tough girl, though!”

Marah:  “Huuuuhhhhhhhhhhh!”  (….that didn’t work.)  “Michelle, get me that ladder.  Let me check the control box on the garage ceiling.”

Ivan:  “Mommy, you should try my wrench.”

Marah:  “How do you open this ladder?”

Michelle:  “Uhm……I think you pull it apart like this and push that foot rest thing like that??”

Marah:  “Oh, yeah, thanks. “

Ivan:  “Mommy, is it time to push the button?”

Marah and Michelle in complete unison:  “NOOOOO!!!”

Michelle:  “Don’t touch it when she is hanging on the ladder under the door!”

Marah:  “Grab that broom and I will try to pry it open with the handle.” 

And this when Michelle held Ivan up to FINALLY push the button.

Marah:  “On three, one, two, three, huuuuuuhhhhhhhh…..it’s working!!!!!!”

This was a forty-five minute excursion, with sweat and tears (from laughter).  It took a third adult to lift Ivan to push the button while we both pried the door open with brooms and shovels.    But there were many cheers and high-fiving when we finally got it, even from the little guy in the highchair!

This is what we feared would happen every time we tried to lift it.

                  

Thankfully Marah works out every day!

          

  

I got it!  Pull the car out....... quick!

Did we mention we make a pretty great team?!

We're Not As Creative As We Thought We Were

Opening our own shop on Etsy has proven to be quite the challenge for these two blondes! No matter the difficulties we have the fortitude to laugh at ourselves and push forward.  

"That's not the right label, Michelle!"

Owning and operating a specialized preschool and daycare while trying to get our products marketed is like running through an obstacle course listening to repetitive brainwashing methods that break down our thought patterns and block our creative frequencies....if we ever possessed those!  Right now Marah is fixing a doll's leg that somehow has been rotated around backwards for a two year old, the baby is toddling around with a forty year old metal semi truck, and two preschoolers are rolling around in a circus tent, while the dog scurries under tables looking for crumbs.  Ohhhh,.... yeah.  

With four items listed, it's a start, and that's a step in the right direction.  We have loads of fun in whatever we put our minds to and in the last seven or eight years we have tried a lot, and we mean a lot, of projects.  But what comes to mind is a kind of perseverance and strength that we're proud of actually.  

Let's see, we used to travel and sell communication equipment to the fire service, law enforcement, and military.  That was the best.  But the economy no longer afforded that kind of expensive equipment, so we moved on to cheaper, uhm, less expensive equipment, which was not our forte.  Oh, what came next?  We decided to get into the medical field, because all these baby boomers are going to need health care over the next twenty years.  We took classes, studied, got jobs in hospitals, wiped a few rear ends, and quickly discovered that was also not our forte!  So, we had the brilliant idea of forming a professional cleaning business.  Made a flyer, wrote letters, not one lead.  Marah had Ivan and wanted to spend life with him, so we kept our entrepreneurial hats on and created an amazing little preschool that we own and operate together.  

No worries; I got this!!!

You have got to be kidding me!!!

Eventually, though, we would like to sell - stuff, any stuff, and since we make many of our own homemade products, we thought we'd start there, selling our own products.  And what could be better therapy than writing our own hilarious blog while pushing through the many mistakes?!

 

Spot on!

Creative, huh?!