Update on the Mac & Cheese Recipe

... because I know that everyone was holding their breath.

After blithely writing this post, I have to unfortunately continue my search for the perfect Macaroni and Cheese recipe. Sigh.

Darnit, and I loved the thought of this one too. It was so simple. Nah, I'm not lazy, I'm uh, efficient. Yeah, that's it.

After a couple of attempts, different techniques, and different cheeses, I have to call this recipe a failure. Although it could just be me...

No matter what I do, the texture is grainy. Ughh, it's terrible! I mean the flavor is fantastic, but unless you enjoy a little sand with your mac and cheese, this recipe just doesn't cut it for me.

Damn.

Movies in the park

I absolutely love North Carolina. You know why? Because what we did last night would have been crowded, expensive, and a total hassle if we had done it in California.

Our local parks and recreation department is hosting a summer "Movies in the Park Series." How cool is that? Last night, the movie pick was Pink Panther 2, admittedly not something that I was dying to see, but Alex loved the first Pink Panter movie so I packed up Sarah, invited Grandma and Grandpa, and off to the park we went.

What was even neater, more cool, cooler? (Sorry, I'm not very grammatically correct late at night...) was that you could boat-in to the movie too. The park that is on the edge of the lake, and you just moor up in the cove in front of this gigantic inflatable movie screen.

Cool huh? I thought so too.

I was all excited about this part, thinking we could go with my parents in their boat... until my mom judiciously pointed out that containing Sarah (a very restless 2-year-old), on a boat, for several hours, in the dark, would probably not be the best idea. Good thinking mom!


Usually Sometimes, I forget myself and my romantic, idealistic side shouts down my logical side...

So anyways, we parked on the grass with our blankets, snacks, drinks, and ten-gallon tubs of bug repellant and proceeded to have an absolutely wonderful evening. I think that last night is going to be one of my favorite memories of this summer. Cheesy movie notwithstanding. Maybe.

Typical

Alex's idea of hanging up the towels...

Ya gotta love it.

Neat Mac & Cheese Recipe

So I was reveling in my new found internet freedom and decided to check out my neighbors in bloggityville. I had read about this blog in Family Circle or Good Housekeeping and it sounded right up my alley. It's a really neat blog called Simple Mom. Go ahead, check it out, I'll wait...

Okay, you back? Isn't it cool? I loved it too. Aaaanyways Tsh has several great posts about menu planning and in those posts she talks about using delicious, a social bookmarking site (which is really, really cool. I immediately signed up.) to organize all of the great recipes that you find on the internet. She included a link to her bookmarks, and it had this recipe listed. You cook the pasta in milk which reduces down to a sauce and then add cheese. How cool and easy is that? Well I've been looking for a good, easy, mac & cheese recipe forever and this one looked absolutely scrumptious. So of course I had to make it right away.

We had it for dinner last night.

It was very simple to make, and the flavor was terrific. The only giddyup that I had was the texture, it came out a bit grainy. I think that next time I need to use a bit more milk, and I'm going to try a different kind of cheese, maybe Colby Jack. Mmmmm.

Anyway two thumbs up, and I'll let you know how it turns out once I've tweaked it a bit.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Guess what? I just made homemade laundry detergent!
And here it is at home between the toolbox and the toilet paper:

Now this could either work out really well, or it could be a total fiasco, dunno, haven't washed any clothes with it yet, but I will let you know what happens when I do. It's a very simple recipe that uses Borax, Arm & Hammer washing soda, and one bar of soap.

I first came across the basic recipe/idea when I was researching cloth diapers for Sarah and was trying to decide what detergent to wash them in. I've always wanted to try making it, but I couldn't find washing soda anywhere in California, and I wasn't about to buy it online figuring that that would kind of put the kabosh on the money saving aspect of it. Luckily, we're able to get it here in North Carolina, woo hoo!

So anywho, I ran out of detergent today and remembered that old recipe. I actually found another recipe here that I went ahead and tried. I liked this one because it used up the whole box of the ingredients instead of mixing up a bit at a time. For my soap I used lavendar scented Dr. Bronner's castille soap and my detergent smells scrumptious, I can't wait to use it!

*Update* Well, I threw our kitchen towels in the wash to try out the new detergent (they were dirty, c'mon, I'm not that bad) and nothing's blown up yet. They're in the dryer right now and I'll update the update when they're done.

*Update on the Update* The towels came out beautiful! Well, as beautiful as beat-up kitchen towels can be anyways. The detergent worked great, the towels we so soft and clean smelling. I love it!

Oops

... and I just set off the fire alarm making lunch for the kids.

Yes folks, we are back in business.

Woohoo!

I am now officially online y'all!

I finally bit the bullet, broke down and got internet. It's scary that it has become such a necessity, geez. I mean I felt so isolated without it, isn't that sad?

So anyways, I'm back. Yay.

Loss

My sweet, sweet grandmother passed away suddenly towards the end of June. It was a terrible loss for our family, and one that I think I am still processing.

It happened the day after the kids and I had gone to visit her, and I think that it was such a shock because she seemed so full of life when we saw her. I just thank God that we got to see her one last time and that our last words were I love yous.

I miss her terribly, and I know that my mother, aunt, and uncle feel that loss even more. What hurts the most is that we weren't able to attend the memorial service, it kills me to not have been there. It was held in California because most of my family is there, and the place that my grandfather was buried and where my grandmother wanted to be buried is there also. I just didn't have the money to fly the kids and I out there, and it makes me ill to think about it, but I  remind myself that the times that we spent together and the last visit that we were able to have with her are what was important.

I was blessed to have four generations of my family alive and together at the same time. It was a precious thing that my children got to know and love their great-grandmother, their Nana, and to know that she adored them in return.

I love you Nana, and I miss you.

Saturdays are good days...

“Saturdays are good days
for taking care of chores”

This was the fortune I got when I went to Panda Express the other day.

How depressing.

I mean seriously, is this some kind of ancient Chinese curse or something? What kind of sadist puts something like that in a fortune cookie?

Of course this could be God’s not so subtle hint that I need to catch up on housework...

Just To Let You Know

I've survived the bus route so far.

I'll put up a more in-depth post later because I'm just picking Sarah up from my mom's right now. I just wanted to let you all know that I was still alive, and yes, the kids are still intact.

(And so is the bus)

(And so is all the public and private property that I drove by)

Starting Over

It's strange, this whole starting over business, because for one thing you totally underestimate the sheer amount of stuff that it takes to begin running a home from scratch.

When we first started planning the move to our own place, my husband offered to drive out here and bring the kids and I our stuff from the apartment we had in California. John said he didn't need it because he's staying with his mom right now, so he said he'd drive out in our truck with a trailer and then fly back to California. It seemed like a perfect solution because the kids would get to see their dad for a few days, it would keep me from having to buy a ton of stuff all over again, and I would have a car (he's got his own car back in California).

Unfortunately, he wasn't able to make it out here, so he's planning on selling the truck and sending me the money for it to help us get set up.

In the meantime I've used up the money I had set aside to get Alex a bed, a card table for us to eat at (my parents lent us two chairs), a papasan chair for the living room, and some cheap area rugs so the kids don't totally destroy the carpet. My parents, God bless them, practically had an entire kitchen set up in the attic from one of their boats. So that took care of silverware, dishes, a few pots and pans, and some kitchen utensils.

It was really nice to not have to buy anything for the kitchen.

For the time being I'm sleeping on an air mattress that my parent's are letting me borrow. They had a spare metal bedframe up in the attic, we laid a piece of plywood on it, and put the air mattress on top.

Voila! Instant bed.

Sarah already had a crib and a changing table that we had gotten at the consignment store a few months ago, so she's taken care of bedwise too.

Our landlady is really sweet, and when we moved in she told me that she had a whole basement of furniture that prior tenants had left behind. Angela said she thought that there was a couch in there and we were welcome to it if it was in good condition. She and her husband, Tom, moved it into the living room for me last week.

It's tan, circa 1970's with an odd textural pattern, but hey, I'm not going to complain about a free couch. It's also got a fold-out bed in it which is really cool in the totally unlikely event that I ever have guests over.

So, it's kinda bare-bones, but we're set up. My grandma said that she would be willing to sell me her washer and dryer when she moves in a few months, so that's taken care of, and we have all the essentials that we need. I'm really, really grateful for all of the things that we've been able to get for the house, we've got all of our 'needs' taken care of. I'll just have to take care of the 'wants' when I can.

Watch Out World!

I'm driving a schoolbus.

The school informed me that I needed to get my CDL license and that I would probably be given a route. No, you don't have a choice, and if you don't take a route you won't have a job either. Thank you sir, may I have another.

Yikes.

I was told in the beginning of the year that I wouldn't have to drive a bus because I was working in a special ed classroom and I had 30 hours a week. Full-time staff isn't required to drive a bus. Well, apparently that provision is flexible depending on the needs of the school. In other words, if we need you to drive, your gonna drive. Great.

So, starting today, little ol' me will be driving a schoolbus. A schoolbus! I was afraid to start driving a normal car! I didn't want to drive so much that I postponed getting my license until I was 18.

Lord help me.

To make matters worse, I rode the route with the old driver and the new afternoon driver (I'll be driving mornings) on Friday. Our bus, is a fossil. This was the bus in the bus lot that the trainer took us on for five minutes, just to show us. He walked us on saying the words, and I  qutoe: "Oh, you'll never have to drive one of these, but I want you to get a look at one just in case."

Thanks Bo.

To top off the fact that we're driving this wreck, we also found out that there is a really bad turnaround on the route. The road we have to turn around on is unfortunately very accurately named Point's End.

It's one lane.

With a lawn on one side and trees, shrubs and mud on the other.

You have to execute a five-point turn in a bus. A school bus, for those of you who are curious, weighs in at 32,000 lbs, is 8 feet tall, and 40 feet long.

40 feet.

And I have to do a five-point turn in it. AHHHHHHHH!

Hang on a second while I stop hyperventilating.

Ok, I think I'm alright now. The only saving grace is that I'm driving so early (6:15) that there won't be anyone on the roads, and I'll be able to do my turnaround before any kids are on the bus. The last thing I need is a bunch of Highschoolers witnessing my humiliation and my destruction of private and public property...

Wish me luck, and if I don't write for a while you'll know that I'm out looking for work.

~ Jen

I Haven't Dropped Off the Face of the Earth.

Well, maybe technologically speaking I have.

We moved into our own place on the 24th of January! It's a cute little blue duplex about five minutes down the road from my folk's house, and the kids and I love it.

I just don't have internet access there, and I probably won't be able to afford it for a good, long, while.

Which would be why you haven't heard from me in a really, really long time...
We also don't have a washer and dryer, so every Saturday after Alex's basketball game we schlep all of our dirty clothes over to my parent's house and do laundry. Geez, I feel like I'm in college.

So while I remain unconnected internet-wise, I will write posts at home the good old-fashioned way and post them on Saturdays.

At any rate, it has definitely been an adjustment being on our own again. I do love it though. I have my own room (thank goodness!), and the kids are sharing their own room. Oddly enough, both of them seem very happy to be in a room together. Well, not that Sarah can protest much, but Alex actually loves sharing a room with her. He's never liked being by himself, and I suppose that this is perfect for him.

Mornings are a bit of a logistics problem because we try to let Sarah sleep while Alex gets ready for school and eats breakfast. We've settled on him picking out his clothes the night before and setting them out in the living room. In the mornings I get him up, we sneak out of their room, and he gets ready in my bathroom. All in all it works pretty well.

So wish us luck guys. We're on our own, and so far, we're doing pretty well.