Rhubarb-Strawberry Crisp

This may be too late for any of you that do not live in Alaska, as your rhubarb has probably already ripened and been eaten. It is June and mine rhubarb is barely ripe enough to use. I cut a few stalks of the bigger peices today to make my grandma (and my dad) a strawberry rhubarb crisp.

Inspired by Martha Stewart's Rhubarb Raspberry Crisp, I created a Rhubarb-Strawberry Crisp.

In the first bowl, I have 4 cups of fruit (mostly rhubarb, but if you want it sweeter put more strawberries), 2/3 cup sugar, and the zest and juice of one orange. In the second bowl (on the right), I have 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 stick of butter and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.

I mixed the fruit together making sure the sugar/orange juice mixer covers the fruit evenly. I mixed the flour/brown sugar bowl with my hands until the butter was evenly dispersed. Then I added the 1/2 cup rolled oats.

I poured the fruit mixture into the bottom of my 1 1/2 quart baking dish and covered the top with the flour mixer. It went into a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.

This is what it looks like!

I am not cutting into this one because I am bringing it over to my parent's when it cools enough to transport. I hope it is as good as it smells! Mmmmm..... I'm thinking they should have it with some vanilla bean ice cream though. :)

Planning for Some Summer Fun

School gets out next week and I have these two adorable monkeys to entertain. I hate hearing "I'm bored", "what are we doing today", or just having lazy kids who do nothing all summer. To prevent this I have created a list of things we will do this summer.  I even went as far as to print a calendar and schedule lots of them so that its not just a plan that we don't follow through on.

Want some ideas for your own summer plans?  Here you go

For their minds

Library reading program (we do this every year)

ABC Verse memorization

Children's Museum

Dinosaur Museum

Bingo Stamper Art (working on letter's with HB)

Art Masterpiece (will explain more later)

ABC Mat games

For their bodies

Bowling

Lawn Bowling

Croquet

Swimming

Ice Skating

Hiking

Splash Pad

Gymnastics Day (local gymnastics center lets your kids play for cheap on Fridays)

For their/our tummies

yes, its all sweets in this topic but I have a sweet tooth and we eat healthy on a regular basis so these will just be special events.

Make Rice Crispy Treats

Homemade Ice Cream

Ice Cream Man

Going to Ice Cream in their Jammie's

Smores

Sweeties (an old fashion ice cream parlor)

Dessert for Dinner

Homemade Popsicles

Get Donuts at Night

Just for fun

Homemade Puffy Paint

Window Markers

Water Park

Mighty Mud Mania

Movie Passes

Random Acts of Kindness Day

Ice Cube Painting

Paper Mache

VBS at our church

Finger Painting

Paint Rocks

Ice Cube Hunt

Peter Piper Pizza

Lowe's Saturday Workshop

Treasure Hunt for Dad (Father's Day)

Bleach T-shirts

Monster Murals

Build a Fort

Game Night

Paint Walmart Figurines

Doodlle Art Pages

Paint By Number ($ store)

Dye Rice

Tye Dye Shirts

Pinata for No Reason at all

You Pick Orchard

Paper Airplanes

Flea Market

Make Beach Towel Robes

Boating with Friends

Water Balloon Fight

Date with Dad (added by Bree)

I got lots of my ideas from Aggieland Mommy and the bucket list she made for her family.  I also have lots of other ideas we might add on my Summer Fun Pinterest Board.  If you haven't found me on Pinterest check it out.  I'm always adding stuff.

What are your plans this summer?  Any other ideas that I could/should add?

The Ice Cream Man is Outside!

Have you ever heard that from your kids and then scramble to grab money, run outside all excited just to see their tail lights turning off your street and then he is gone....we have.  So this year I came up with a plan because because getting money from the ice cream man is one of the joys of summer.  It is a super simple project and all you need is:

a jar (mine was .50 at goodwill)

spray paint

vinyl or sticker

ribbon

 I used this Green Apple spray paint that I already had in my stash.  Spray paint the lid.  I used two coats to get it all covered evenly

I cut my vinyl decal with my silhouette but know that not everyone has a paper cutter. I have seen that Hobby Lobby has some cute ice cream stickers or even letters where you could spell out "Ice Cream" on the jar as an alternative.

We have been putting our change at the end of the day in it, any money I find in the washer or dryer, and the kids can earn money to go into it by doing extra chores if they want.

Like I said, super simple project and it will be fun to grab the whole jar and run outside next time the ice cream man makes his rounds down our street.

XOXOX

Jeannie

I posted this on my back in the day at my old  blog but love it so much I wanted to share it again.  So much wisdom here. I especially love #15 and think someone should make a printable of it...if I figure out how to do that I will make one to share


Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio
“To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I’ve ever written.

1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and
parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.{amen!!!]
11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey
is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never
blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up
to you and no one else
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ‘In five years, will this matter?’
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.
35. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d
grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come…
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift

Both Hands Project Day!

So, life has been crazy busy lately.  Here is a peak at one of the reasons why.

Hubs and I are adopting again!  Our son HB is adopted locally and we are excited to bring home another child but are working on getting the money in place first.  When we learned about the Both Hands Project that Lifesong for Orphans came up with we prayed that we would be accepted for the program.  Not only would we get to raise some of the money for our adoption but we would also get to bless a widow in the process...yes please!

The day of the project was amazing!  It was wonderful to see the people God has placed in our lives that are willing to bless us and Kathie (the widow).  I want to thank everyone who donated money as well as time and energy for this project.  We are truly blessed!



Signs that summer is coming in Alaska!

It is officially. May is here and there is still snow on the ground... I guess it was to be expected after the record setting snowfall this year. (We got over 11 feet of snow this winter, beating the old record from the winter of 1954/55!)

Anyway, while cleaning off my porch I was wondering to myself what it would be like to really have "April showers bring May flowers" like the common Spring time saying.

I stopped and took a look around at all the brown leaves covering the ground and the bare naked trees starting to bud and found some fun stuff starting to pop up around here. Because our winters are so long, we get really excited about the slightest signs of summer coming. Other than the excitement of a few blades of green grass. I have my blue poppies coming back!

See those green things poking through...that is a sure sign for us in Alaska that summer is coming! I saw ferns coming up through more brown leaves by my front door.

And my favorite sight of the day is the rhubarb coming up through the snow!

While the rest of the world is enjoying warmer weather and spring flowers, I just thought I would give you a glimpse of what we in Alaska look forward to as "signs of summer". :)

Amanda's Cleaning Checklist

I am headed back to college starting this summer! Every semester when {D} goes back for his classes, I tell myself "you've got to go back and finish". Then I negotiate with myself and say "next semester". I seem to have conversations with myself like this a lot. I literally feel like one of those cartoons with a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. I have mental battles every morning when the alarm goes off to get on the treadmill too.

Anyway, going back to school is a goal of mine that I need to start on so I can be done by the time we have children.

I'm really nervous about going back to school.

I will probably want to quit come Christmas time. BUT to help prevent this quitter mentality, I am trying to plan for all the excuses I can think of now. My first excuse I could think of is: I won't be able to keep up with the housework and laundry.

What better way to keep track of something or keep up on something than a checklist!

I created a checklist with daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly and quarterly tasks. I searched the web for other ideas and made it work into my own. I am going to print this off and laminate it. This way I can use a dry-erase marker to check the items off as I do them.

Daily:
Tidy Bedroom
Make Bed
Tidy Bathroom/vanity
Load/Unload dishwasher
Take out the trash
Laundry

Weekly:
Fold Laundry/put away
Wash Sheets
Sweep/mop floors
Vacuum House
Clean our refrigerator
De-clutter kitchen table (we collect mail here)
Clean/disinfect bathrooms
Empty trash (Sunday night we put the trash by the curb)

Bi-weekly:
Deep clean kitchen - clear everything off the counters and scrub
Dust house/furniture
Clean windows/mirrors - and anything else requiring glass cleaner
Organize - I normally have a project of some sort going

Monthly:
Wipe down walls - especially the kitchen and the bathrooms
Wipe/sanitize switch plates and door knobs
Purge magazines and other papers - homework and newspapers collect on my coffee tables
Wash throw rugs - I only have them in my bathrooms and kitchen

Quarterly:
Clean oven - it's self cleaning so really I just have to wipe it out
Scrub inside of refrigerator
Deep clean kitchen cabinets
Dust/clean moldings around house.

What do you think? Am I missing any obvious chores? I hope this will help me stay on top of things around the house as I venture back to school. What do you do to stay organized when your plate is really full outside your home?

-Amanda