*4th Fun*

We had one of our favorite families over for the 4th of July. Of course, we'd all been to church in the morning and had a fellowship lunch there together already, so other than them going home to change, we were together pretty much all day.

It's been hot here. Last summer was unseasonably cool. This summer is unseasonably hot. I feel like I live on the peninsula of Virginia in the heat and humidity again.

That means the kids were able to play outside in the water and not get chilled. We hooked up a flippy sprinkler gadget to the hose that they brought, the kids made some water balloons, and they played with water guns.



Lori loves orioles, and we've been feeding them with oranges out in the back, so we (as in the grown-ups) sat in the relative cool of the house and watched them. (It's hard to get a picture with my camera, and I have no idea how to upload the pictures so you can enlarge them. The female is on the left orange.)

We had Basil Grilled Chicken, hot dogs, Cheesy Potato Casserole, Baked Beans, watermelon, cucumbers, and cupcakes for dinner.

Then because we didn't think we were stuffed enough, we had s'mores. On our new firepit. Hubby gave everyone specific directions first.


I took this picture for the messy s'more eating fingers, then I saw the fingernails when I copied it over here. Eek!

Before we did the fireworks, which has to be after 10 p.m. since it doesn't get dark here until very late (we live in the western part of the Eastern time zone), we opted for some family games. They involved water and plastic cups and Cheetos and plastic spoons. We came up with the games on our own.

They have six people. We have six people. Nice and even.

Except we didn't split up that way.

Somebody had the bright idea to line up tallest to shortest and count off 1-2-1-2... Guess who the only grown-up was that was not at the tall end of the line?

There was not one child between me and the other grown-ups. There were not two children between me and the other grown-ups. There were three. And by next year it will be four.

Poor Sparky. She had an 11-year-old taller than her (who was almost taller than me — the one who will be next year) and a 10-year-old who almost was. He and Caboose will probably be taller than her by next year.

Pretty soon it's just gonna be me and her.

Okay, then we did fireworks, and if you think the bird picture was bad, those are worse.

Just trust me that we did some, we watched some better ones farther away, and had a wonderful time.

Freezer Cooking Tip — Marinated Chicken

I've been using the marinades I found over at Life as Mom for quick and easy bulk freezer meals. I actually quick thaw them in a large bowl of cold water an hour or so before I want Hubby to grill them.

I make a lot of them at one time. I will make two bags of two marinades, or two bags of three marinades, so I have a lot of bags with chicken happening all at one time.

I put them in a bowl to keep them contained, but I have found that if I put the chicken in first, rather than putting the marinade in first, the bag stands up better. Then it's easier to get my measuring implements inside the top of the bag without messy spills down the sides. I don't like that.


I break the rules and write in Sharpie on my bag after I'm done too.

Patriotic Touches

The only holidays I really decorate for are Christmas and the fall season. I'm decorated perpetually for any Americana holiday such as Memorial Day, Independence Day, or Labor Day since I have a lot of Americana around my house, especially in my kitchen.

I was getting some interfacing at JoAnn's the other day. They had some patriotic accessories 60 pecent off by the registers.

They look perfect on our bed with our Ikea accent pillows.

*Sparklers*

"I command you to play Mario Cart with me."

"I command you to be quiet."

I must have been a boring kid. My excitement was trying to spell my name in the air in cursive before the sparkler died out.

June Clutter Update

I'm starting over trying to come up with 730 items from June through the end of the year. I got rid of so many things at the beginning (and went way over 730) that I thought it would be a true challenge to do it all over again.

I started the month with a used curriculum and book sale. I sold 69 items during the three-hour sale.

Then at the end of that time there is a lady whose family owns and operates a book store with curriculum and education-oriented books. She looks through your items (if you so choose) and will offer you a price on the things she's willing to purchase from you. Since she's in the resale business I was warned that it was a low-ball price, but I was extremely pleased with not only what she took, but what I was offered.

I know she took my four flashcard sets and at least 20 books, but I'm going to go conservative and just say 24 items. This lady knows just what she's looking for and she is fast. I wasn't smart enough to pay attention when she was flipping through things to count what she was keeping, and there wasn't any way I would ask to count what she kept when she was done and hold up the line. Of course, I didn't even think about it until two days later...

I decided to take the books that were left to the local Barnes & Noble store that has a used book section. I traded in all 67 books and was able to get Hubby's Father's Day gift for a mere 80 cents (you can read about it here).

I sold a Rokenbok firehouse set on ebay that had 87 pieces.

I had a friend offer to let me participate in her garage sale. Of course I'd been taking tons of things to Goodwill thinking that I wouldn't be doing a garage sale any time in the near future and I didn't want to have boxes stacked up everywhere. I scrounged around the night before and found a few things (if I'd had more time I could have found more), plus we had a few large things we still needed to get rid of. From the garage sale:

Bunk beds
2 twin mattresses
Electric clothes dryer
Electric water cooler
Dinosaur posters
1 book
1 file box of card stock
1 card-making book
1 plastic storage box
4 bags of toys
8 Imaginext toys
1 bag of fabric scraps

That comes to 23 items, and it freed up my garage in an amazing way!

All those numbers add up to 270. I'm on my way to another 730 by the end of the year, although I do think it's going to get harder.

Amy at The Finer Things hosts the 730 in 365 Declutter Challenge. It's not too late to join in!

Iced Coffee

Iced Coffee

1/2 cup instant coffee granules
1 cup cocoa
1 cup dry milk
1 cup dry creamer
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Place ingredients in a blender or food processor and process until fine. Keep in a jar in a cool, dry place.

To make iced coffee place the following in a blender:

1/2 cup mix
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 cup ice

Blend until ice is crushed and is a smooth consistency.

I don't drink iced coffee from any of the chains, so I don't really know what they normally taste like. This ends up being just a little bit slushy but sips through a straw nicely.

I also altered the mix and used half regular creamer and half French vanilla creamer. I probably could have reduced the sugar, but since I forgot to add it until after I'd already made my iced coffee and then had to figure out how much to add in, I'm not sure I did it quite right. I think the next time I do it that way I'll do 1/2 cup sugar when I'm adding in the French vanilla creamer since it's a little sweet on it's own.

3 out of 4 is PLENTY!

Chatty came back from Horse Camp happy, and more importantly, unscathed.

Because immediately following the stitch marks and blisters obtained by Buddy and Sparky (and those blisters ended up being second degree burns, and she has since turned into a scaly creature and we're just trying to protect the new skin), Caboose did this on the inflatables at Family Fun Night at church.

Like most 10-year-old boys, he didn't tell us until he got home. You know, so he wouldn't have to leave all the fun.