Our Four Legged Members of the Family

This is Laredo.

Is she sweet or what? Laredo is a long time member of my family, before I met Mike, before little guy came along, before I even knew she'd be mine she belonged to my family. My parents found her running through one of the busiest intersections in Lexington, KY. She was ducking in and out of traffic and was going to either get hit or cause an accident if someone did not catch her quickly. My parents along with a few other folks got her caught and when no one knew what to do with her my parents took her home. They tried to find her owners, but based on the lack of a collar or tags, the fact that no one responded to the fliers or called the shelters looking for her, the fact that there were lots of apartments around where she was found pretty much left us knowing she had been abandoned when someone moved.

She was a young dog at that time, probably about 1-2 years at most. She was already house trained and has never been a barker. In fact, if she barks it kind of freaks me out as I know something really strange is going on. She is nervous around feet and will never let herself get caught 'underfoot.' My guess is that someone thought she was for kicking when she was a puppy. She is really a perfect dog and it is my gain that someone else thought she was worthless.

Laredo playing on the shores of Lake Michigan.

Laredo lived in Kentucky with my parents for a few years. When I bought my first house they tried to talk me into taking her as a companion. I already had a cat and didn't know if I wanted two animals in the house. However, they pointed out how small she is and that she is so sweet and why don't I just try her for a few weeks? How do you argue with that?

Since then she has been a resident of Wisconsin. Laredo is one of those dogs that attracts attention wherever she goes, but she doesn't really care for it. People want to know what type of dog she is and where they can get one like her. My answer is always that we have no idea and they should rescue a dog! She is a good traveler, keeps her distance from kids since she isn't a big fan of them and gives the cat a wide berth. She was my comfort as I drove to my parent's home after my sister died and has been my encouragement to go for more walks than I would have without her.

When Mike joined our lives she fell in love with him faster than I did. I figure its a good sign when your dog loves a guy! She has taken to our new lives and new family members really well and has done her part to drive away the bunny population in this neighborhood. Laredo LOVES to chase bunnies and has killed a few, along with a ground hog that wasn't much smaller than she. For all her froo-froo looking she is actually a mighty huntress under all that hair.

Laredo at Seven Bridges Park.

Laredo is such a sweetie and a joy of a dog. It is hard to think of life without her and hopefully we will not have to for a long time! Laredo is such a good dog that it is hard for me to deal with dogs who have bad manners. We have another dog, Pugsley and he is a great dog in his own right, but he has issues that I've never had with her. I am so grateful that someone else didn't realize what a gem they had. She has lived the life a princes (a bunny hunting, swimming in the lake princess) and has brought more joy to people than she knows.

Heather

Cheap Family Fun

Friday was a beautiful day here in Wisconsin. Finally, some glimpses of the summer to come! Yesterday and today are not so beautiful so it makes me grateful that we took the time to get out and enjoy it Friday afternoon.

We took the little one to the park again. It was his second trip to the baby swings and he loved it just as much as the first time! It is a bit of a hike to get to the park, but the dogs and both of us could use the exercise. One of the benefits of our not so typical life is that we were both home Friday afternoon and could walk down, spend some time, walk back and still have dinner as a family before the little guy had to head to bed.

When we put him in the swing he just looked at us and as soon as it started going he started grinning. We were treated to the delicious sounds of baby giggles over and over and over. He really likes the sensation of the swing coming down/forward. So every push back (we stand in front of him) he smiles and every swing forward he giggles. It is awesome to hear and so fun to watch. Even another little girl started watching him swing! Of course then she started swinging too and our guy was so interested in watching her go higher and higher and higher that he couldn't focus on his own swinging. No worries, we didn't get any really good pictures, but I have an idea that we'll be spending more and more time down at the park this summer. This is one great way to spend time as a family and not spend any money. I've even scouted out another park with great play equipment that will probably be even less busy during the summer and is about the same distance from our house.

Now if we could just find a swing for our backyard! Of course, that would mean fewer long walks to the park which wouldn't be as good for me. And it is hard to beat the price of the park!

Frugal Find Friday-Strawberry Shortcake

Welcome to Frugal Find Friday!

This is a bit different than most of the Frugal Finds I expect to post, but thought it was a good example of how we live so frugally and yet live so well. I wrote about canning strawberry jam from fruit that I got for free here. Within the containers of strawberries there were some perfect berries that I decided to use for a little treat. I also got the whipping cream for free because it was on its sell by date and we were going to dump it down the drain at work. I find it hard to toss completely usable items and took it home instead. We couldn't use it all up when I first got it, so about 1 1/2 cups were frozen for use at a later date...turned out to be this week!

I stemmed, washed, diced and very lightly mashed about 1 1/2 cups of strawberries with a little sugar. These I let sit while we ate dinner so they could release their juices and be perfect for strawberry short cake. The whipped cream was sweet as well, but with only about a Tbsp of sugar and a tsp of vanilla extract. The shortcakes were a very simple recipe that I found in the Encyclopedia of American Cooking. They cooked while dinner was in the over so no extra energy was even used when making the shortcakes. I sliced two berries and put one on top of each of our desserts to make the presentation just a little cuter.

The reason this is my Frugal Find for the week is because of how very, very little it cost to make. The strawberries were free, the whipping cream was free and my only cost was a bit of sugar, flour, butter and such for the shortcakes and to sweeten. The whipped cream was a bit grainy because the cream had been frozen before, but really it wasn't bad at all. My husband was so excited to see this for dessert and I was excited because it was frugal and it was real food. It didn't take long at all for these to disappear!

If you have any Frugal Finds to share let me know and I'll add them to the post. Have a great weekend!

Heather

Canning--Strawberry Jam Success!

What a fun afternoon I had the other day! Last summer there was a posting on freecycle for free produce that was in desperate need of being taken that day. It turns out that there is a couple that picks up damaged and past prime produce from a vendor at a local flea market every single week during the summer. Much of the fruit is in really rough shape, but some of it is just in need of quick eating or preserving. I was very fortunate to get a lot of fruit to make into baby food for the little guy this way last summer. I froze cubes of it and it lasted about 4 months. Talk about frugal groceries for a baby!

The fair has started up again for the summer and they have started their weekly pick up. On Monday I headed down to see what I could find that could be useful to our family. I was able to get about 10 tomatoes that I turned into salsa, 1 orange pepper that we used in a pasta dish, a dozen or so mangoes that turned into 6 more servings of baby food, 2 heads of lettuce that we are eating up quickly and a flat of strawberries. Keep in mind this is not like going to the grocery store. There were totally rotten strawberries in most of the containers, there were spots in almost all the tomatoes, a few mangoes were totally bad when I cut into them and some were partially bad. It isn't the prettiest of work, but I am grateful for what it provides for our family. And our compost bin appreciates the rest!

I had gotten a small canning pot at a garage sale years ago and got a few other supplies, including jelly jars from my mom. I bought new lids and rings a few weeks ago in preparation for doing some canning this fall. Lucky for me I got to do a test run with strawberry jam this week. I jumped online and found a few different versions of jam recipes with and without pectin. I do not have any pectin and was glad to see I could do this without it. The recipe could not have been easier.

There was a bit of a time commitment and the juggling of sterilizing everything. There was a lot of stirring and lots of hot water boiling. There were lots of strawberries to wash and pick through and mash and compost. There were sticky spatulas, pans, and counter tops. But, it was so much fun! And in the end there were 7 half-pints of strawberry jam! We are so excited about it and I can't wait until I try canning something else. If you've never tried canning do not be afraid! If I can do it, so can you. We'll learn together this year...one type of produce at a time.

Strawberry Jam

4 cups mashed strawberries

4 cups sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

Stir all together in a large pot cooking over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil and stir constantly until it reaches 220 degrees. This will probably take at least 10 minutes of hard boiling. You can use a candy thermometer or use the freezer plate* method to know if you are ready to can it. Once it reaches the jelling point fill hot sterilized jars leaving 1/4" head space (space between the top of the jelly and the top of the jar. Put into the hot water bath and bring to a boil. Once boiling process (with lid on) for 6 minutes. Remove from water bath and let cool. Listen to the pops that tell you that you have successfully canned strawberry jam!

*The freezer plate method is very cool, especially for those of us without candy thermometer. You put a few small plates in the freezer and when you think the jam has boiled enough you put a small puddle on the cold plate. Let it cool a moment and run your finger through it. If it stays separate and doesn't run back together it is ready to use or can. If it is too runny it needs more time. Keep stirring and boiling and try again!

Works for Me Wednesday--Mom, I'm Bored!

Today is the "Mom, I'm bored!" edition of Works for Me Wednesday. Obviously my little guy is not yet old enough to say any of those words, however he still makes it obvious that he is bored from time to time. Like from 2:30-2:31. Why is it that my toddler has an attention span of less than 2 minutes? Although sometimes, when I am really lucky, he finds the CD player interesting enough to play with it for a whole 5 minutes!

In all honesty I find his way of discovering things to be so interesting to watch. I love seeing him 'get' a new way of doing something or a joke. I made teased him the other day by mimicing his pouting in his high chair and he got it. He looked at me crossing my arms and pouting, then looked at his own arms and back at me and giggled. Nothing is better than a baby giggle.

So back to my tip. I find that my little guy likes our stuff more than his toys most days. My tip is to let him play with your stuff! Now some things he isn't allowed to touch and somethings I don't want him to mess with. However, most other stuff he is allowed to at least check out. He crawls over to the pile of books I have pulled out to add to the rummage sale pile and I let him pick them up and knock the stack over and drool on them a little. He is curious and it is how he is learning, little damage is done and it keeps me from becoming a total control freak!

My other idea is to rotate his toys. Already I can tell he gets bored with the same toys everyday. So some rotate out of play for a week or so and then when they appear it is a big deal. He wants to chew on them and drool on them and bang them against things again. In other words he is excited to see them! The way I rotate them is to have some in the van, some in the kitchen, some by his crib and some in the diaper bag. These little toys get shifted every so often and it makes them new again. When we are in the van I just grab a few and throw them in the diaper bag. The ones in the bag get tossed on the blanket in the kitchen. A few from the kitchen get hauled up when it is nap time and a few from there get put by his coat to be added to the van. This keeps our total number of toys down saving us money and clutter. It keeps him from being bored with the same couple of toys all the time. A win-win.

Works for me! I'm taking notes from all the other Moms. It won't be long until he is older and I hear the "I'm BORED!" See all the ideas here.

Heather

Joining in the Gratitude

Today is Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers and I thought I'd join in the fun. Check out all the neat things others are grateful for here.

There are many things I am grateful for, but today I thought I start with the basics. I am grateful for my husband and my son. I'm grateful that we have a roof over our head, food to eat and are all healthy. I'm grateful that we have our animals to love and the ability to work. I'm grateful that we have a church we love and families that love us.

All in all our lives are pretty amazing and we are so fortunate to be where we are. When the craziness of daily life steps in it is wonderful to remember all the reasons there are to be grateful. It is almost scary how many things there are to list. Life is good. I am grateful.

Heather

Blogs I Love

I'm thinking about starting to showcase some of my favorite blogs and favorite posts on those blogs. I started reading blogs a few years ago and find that over time some have remained favorites and some have come and gone from life. There are more and more new ones that I am introduced to or find and fall in love with too. Sometimes it would be great to take a day and just read blogs! Of course, there is a baby, a husband, work, meals to prepare, laundry and a few hundred other things that make up my life. So, I think for now I must keep my favorites within limits :)

Anyone have a favorite that I may not have heard of? Anyone else have a 'problem' where you must go back and read every post written by a particular blogger when you find a blog that is awesome? (Seriously, I've read every post on Pioneer Woman. It is a problem.) Anyone want to tout their own blog?

I'll do my best to give a comprehensive overview of those I love. Maybe you'll find a new one to love!

Heather