Princess Perky's Page

One of the best things about the SA forums is that it raises questions. Maybe the discussion is holiday spending, or parenting, or cell phones.

The question doesn't have to be currently mine, and yet it causes me to think.

The other night after reading up on who has a cell phone from the forum I talked with my husband about when/if we would get the kids a cell phone...the need is far off, he is only 5. But thinking now means we don't have to make a fast decision, we can think about what we feel constitutes a need and evaluate as needed.

For the phone we decided, when he has the opportunity to be away from us with not super well known adults..for example a friends house (not a cousin, or our close friends, but his friends) without us...yeah they have a phone, but having his own makes us worry less. Or when he is able to take walks down to the creek without us. (mostly our back yard)

However, having a 'kid phone' would not be a kid line to be called and call from at will. It would function as a contact mom/dad only device...We plan on counseling them NEVER to give out their own phone number, my phone is the 'house number'.

Basically it would be a high tech way of giving him 2 quarters to use a pay phone..only more expensive, and more reliable...

If he abuses the phone he loses not only it but all away from mom/dad privileges till he pays us back. If he wants a 'real phone' with a real number to give out, he has to pay for it.

We have seen too many kids get 'pay as you go phones' that they use up all the minutes on, and no longer have any way of contacting mom or dad in an emergency... we have also heard of kids with phones..who never use them up..prolly cause we never see the phone .

As to how we pay fro that..we will cross the bridge when we come to it..far far in the future

I put bleach in with white stuff, and towels (cause they are so far faded it can't get worse) but what about colored sheets? JC is a princess with pink pink and a bit more pink..oh and some purple

Also do you think a dishwasher (which is currently working) gets dishes 'sanitized' enough or should add bleach to that as well?

Update on JC. more puke overnight, but bouncy today, and nothing gross yet.

JC woke up two nights ago and I thought she was puking, but it was just bad coughing..that sounded like puking...rather weird. so she wnet potty and go tucked back in bed.

Last night she really was puking, so we spent half an hour hunting up all the puke and washing sheets, and such. I really have a wonderful husband, I cleaned her, he cleaned the bedding.

Then we let her sleep on the couch for a bit while wash was done. since she ate breakfast and complained of being bored I thought she was doing better.... till she puked lunch at the lunch table... so gross.

Now she is back in bed, pouted about having to nap, but is sleeping and hopefully not planning on puking again.

So anyone want to calculate the financial cost of washing a bazzillion loads of clothes sheets and towels in super hot to kill germs?

I may have mentioned I hate shopping. Shopping for shoes is even worse these days. When I was a kid I loved shoe shopping, twice a year a trip to try on some shoes nearly always resulted in nifty new pair of shoes. The fact that for 4 years running I found the same sandals each spring to replace the old ones is beside the point..they were new, they smelled new, I liked that. Then I couldn't find those sandals and that is where it all went down hill.

I haven't found a decent pair of sandals in my size since! I wasn't even 6 ft tall back then, I lived in Millvale PA, and I am guessing I was about 10yo.

That is a long time a lot of summers to be without a nice pair of sandals....Tennis shoes used to be easy, plain boring and simple...ok and size 9 1/2 W...apparently cheap well made no longer comes in plain boring and simple, and size 9 1/2 W. The last pair I saw that I liked had some sort of seam trouble, plastic was seeping out and if I tugged it (pink, who wants pink plastic seeping out of their shoes) the seams started to pull apart...I put them back on the shelf and ran out before I was charged 20$ for trying to see if the shoe was repairable. (speaking of the $20, since when is that cheap?)

So here I am wearing my husbands shoes (I made him get new ones because his had so many holes in them). And a pair of 'dress' shoes I have come to hate (with plenty of holes in them) not because I wont pay for shoes, on the contrary, I have tossed all price restrictions out the window! I don't care what they cost so long as they fit and look good. But instead, because shoe makers have gone crazy...or maybe shoe wearers have gone crazy.

Actually I thought I tossed the price limit out the window, then I priced custom made Ren Fest shoes...at a minimum of $450 I actually did say no....not a definite no, just a umm..well, come on, $450? for a pair of shoes? (well boots really) That does seem a bit high.

The true mark of desperation ... I am still thinking about it. Since I haven't bought shoes in...over 5 years, prolly 6..and they claim to last a lifetime (guarantee) I can take the last 5 years of shoes at up to $15 each (old benchmark, always bought on sale) and sorta have $75 saved for them right now.....which is not even one quarter of the way there....

Maybe feet aren't all that important...

I have posted before that the best way to get what you want is to ask for it, and boy do I wish folk would ask us for stuff...even if I couldn't afford it at least I would know what was wanted...and I might just give the gift in sections so you get what you want and I don't have to agonize..

So I am off to email my mother to buy my husband book one of the firefly companion..though I actually don't know what it costs...

And me another blanket for a queen sized bed...or make if it is made out of the stuff she made for JC's bed..I like it, I just want it in black

I love knowing I will get what I ask for...I really don't even feel guilty any more 'ordering up' Christmas...I feel relieved to know I can check wishes off my list and ignore them...the only trouble is I give my mother the best ideas for my husband...hope she appreciates it! (and I hope he knows I wouldn't be such a terrible giver if I didn't have to give away my best ideas!)

I happened to look at the back of a box of pasta the other day...I recalled it served 8, and wanted to know just how terrible we were for needing a whole box for just 5 of us.

I discovered it only served 7...when did my pasta box shrink?

Or did the serving size grow?

Then I thought a box was supposed to be a pound...this box has 13.5oz...maybe thats where my other serving went. The box measures what I remember a box of pasta being, it just has less weight.

I am curious if it is because the pasta is whole wheat...I need to check the next time I am in the store to see if a box of white pasta still has a pound or not.

Our plans are cheap this year...no travel. Not up north, and not down south.

And no company here.

We might share Thanksgiving with another family local that also will not be traveling, or if that doesn't work out we will just stay home. Either way this will be the cheapest Thanksgiving in years!

Course, if I don't cook a turkey on Thanksgiving I plan on cooking one around then anyway..to take advantage of the cheap Turkeys you can buy then!

banning hugs

As if the world needs one more thing banned in public school...don't get me wrong I can picture a bunch of barely teenage girls doing the 'screechy oohs and group hugs that is ALL for show, and yeah I hate it...seen it many times at many places...but would I ban ALL hugging? No see being a mom I would just pull aside the girl I was in charge of and have a talk...one about how fake French cheek kisses belong in comedy routines, not hallways.

That is the difference between big groups and families...I don't have to change the world, when I see a situation or behavior I do not approve of, I only have to worry about teaching my own kids...and though some think three kids is a bunch, it is a small bunch compared to 300 in smaller high schools, or 3000 in larger ones.

You cannot legislate human behavior..

But then I don't get to change the world, I just get to do my best with me and mine.

I started with the premise that any reduction was a good one, and figured a little discomfort was prolly good for us. After all the human body can adapt to amazing extremes of temperatures especially if you include clothing in the adaptation, and yet we waste this ability on houses set comfortably at X temp year round.

Our first winter here the heating bill (gas) was regularly in the $120s-$150s, with an average of $80. The last year it broke $100 only once, with an average of $50. That once BTW was when we had lots of company...company that was obviously born in a barn...door constantly left open! I figure if I could teach guests to shut doors I would have actually reduced the bill by more than half.

So in roughly the order we carried them out:

Reduce the heat by 2 degrees I heard from my father that reducing the temperature (or raising it in summer) would reduce the electric bill by something like 7%..now this is heresy, he said something, and now I am saying something, the two are not necessarily the same! My memory is defunct...the closest I can come to scientific evidence is

here where it says every degree above 70 raises the cost by 7%...I picked two degrees, because if I got really cold and uncomfortable I could go turn it back up a degree and still save while feeling like I 'got to cheat'.

Frugalize some curtains out of blankets and sheets. I think real insulating curtains would have been great, but I didn't want to spend a penny. Instead I safety pinned a blanket to make a 'fold' to slide a rod I happened to have in. I know of others who have stapled the blanket to the wall as well..all free and all helps to insulate.

Reduce the heat by two degrees ..you thought I already said that, but this was an additional two degrees. Once we were comfortable with the temperature I decided to shake things up. I think the deciding factor was a day I vacuumed and started sweating while the heat came on. I decided I would rather move more, or use a blanket than PAY to be hot and sweaty!

Learn to open and shut said curtains I am sure we have all heard that curtains on the east side should be open in the morning and shut after noon, while the opposite should occur for the west side of the house. But actually putting that into practice took lots of work...and I still fail too often.

Turn the heat down two degrees Yep I did it again...I found I was sleeping with only a sheet and a bedspread..it seemed a waste to have such wonderful blankets and not use them.

Learn to bake when cold actually I bake a lot anyway, but now I try to bake when the heat was off in the evening, to keep it that way. And I practiced not opening a window if the kitchen got too hot..after all letting it cool of the slow way would keep the gas heat off longer. Plus when debating between nuking a potato and baking it, I picked baking...might use more electricity, but it sure does taste better

Reduce the heat by 2 degrees Ok you are prolly tired of hearing this, and you prolly wonder just how low I am willing to go? But well I had all these sweaters (I am from the north) but I never got to wear them! So I had to reduce the heat just to have a use for what I didn't want to give away.

Learn to drink hot drinks when cold heating up some boiling water to make tea or hot chocolate doesn't take as much energy as heating the house 6 degrees, but it gives the same effect. Only tastes better than a heating bill .

Reduce heat by 2 degrees..again. I woke up one morning freezing cold..I checked the temp.. 72. I hadn't paid to keep my house at 72 in years! And yet here I am thinking this was freezing. The same temperature that, had it been afternoon, I would have complained of not being able to wear a sweater for... So down the temp went and I added socks to my bedtime PJs (or at least put them on as soon as I woke up)

Create a rule for turning the heat off and on The weather here is a mite bit unpredictable, so a set date for turning the heat on (like we use for the air conditioner) doesn't work. Instead we have a rule, currently if the heat drops below 63 in the day (after 10am-ish, before 6pm-ish), we will turn the heat on, and leave it on for the winter. Until it stays above 63 all day. This means no chilly morning will drive me to spend money, just to find warmer clothes or blankets.

And as of yet this year, no heat has been used (and no air since Labor day) Making for a very nice low heating bill

That is it, nothing spectacular. But consistent. by attacking the heating bill like a ongoing battle instead of a one time fight, I was able to reduce it dramatically. I have hopes of reducing it further.

For example I acquired several sets of insulating curtains from my mother as presents. This will be the first year to test them on winter. (They did make a difference in summer already)

And we still might turn the heat down, two degrees at a time of course!

Safety note..I checked children's fingers and toes frequently for warmth (Though more importantly necks must be warm), so long as the shirts were doubled and the socks on both were warm. (Parents of premature babies do not have the turn down the heat option, for quite some time)

Now for some misc. science-y questions ...do Inuit (up north natives) tend to keep more 'brown' fat longer due to the colder climate? Do babies born of traditionally warmer climates have less? Or keep it for shorter times?

Do complex carbs help keep you warm longer than simple?

Does being chilly tend to encourage the body to add on more muscle? or just fat? Does muscle keep you warmer than fat? One insulates one is a heat source.

How cold can humans be comfortable in? How hot?

How many blankets can you pile on before you lose the cumulative effect? Is there a top breaking point?

Does having house plants help keep a house warm..due to humidity? or insulation? or extra oxygen?

Does having a lower 'normal' temp mean you are more likely to be comfortable in cold or heat? How about the reverse?

Not that any of it matters, I just always wondered.

GMC just told me:

"we should get a book like that in Spanish, so I could learn Spanish, then I could talk to everyone in America!"

I am not sure if it is adorable, or sad that he feels he has to know Spanish to talk to fellow Americans..(the book BTW was 'my first French)

In making a grocery list for company this weekend I wrote down:

6 cans of veggies, 2 each of three kinds

Now the company will be here for all the 2 days...there is no way they will use all those veggies (we don't eat canned, they prefer em)...I just wanted a variety since I don't know what they will like...but what to do with the leftover cans? This is why we must be rich:

Just donate them.....

A couple years ago the idea of buying food that I KNOW we will not use would be considered 'wasteful' and here I am planning to do it, with no worries on our budget for the month.....Not that I ever had anything against donating, just that well, I now can afford to do so..frivolously.

Mighty nice to notice we are rich.

And that 4$ was a splurge we would have avoided if my DD hadn't her own money to buy it with.

GMC: Knight, sword he has had for years, shield he bought himself recently (just cause he wanted it) and cardboard armor.

JC: princess, now here we really are cheating, she has a princess dress gma made for her last year, that still fits (and prolly will next year too!) the 4$ was for accessories...unnecessary ones, but hey, gotta let em spend some money sometimes.

UE: squire, a old shirt of his big bros, a belt, and voila, a squire...

Daddy...a jedi, robe, gma made eons ago, plus one of them toy light sabers...one of many toys that he owns but never really plays with.

Mom: I don't do costumes.

So for what is really nothing we have 4 dressed up kids to take 'trunk or treating'.

For treats we did spend a bit on play dough and on spider rings...and we will be taking some pumpkin muffins (the sweet kind) to share.

It has been raining at varying intensity's for three days now...On the one hand I am getting a bit claustrophobic, but on the other hand..since we are in a drought we need it....

So instead of asking it to go, I would like it to stay, just go before next Saturday! (my SIL is coming to visit and we will go to the Ren Fest)

On another note I discovered that one of the trees in the backyard is prolly a tulip poplar..we learned about them on a nature walk at reedy creek, and I think that is the same kind of leaf on this tree.

We didn't plant it, it planed itself last spring. The only thing we did was not mow it something we actually tried for about 5 trees last year, two of them have survived...the poplar, and possible a short needle pine..or some other scruffy pine.

This whole 'leave it alone' might not go over well with the home owners association, but it is incredibly low cost landscaping .

Officially Cub scout packs are supposed to do a good deed together each month...

Unofficially I have enough trouble convincing them to plan a pack meeting, without adding on another item.

So unofficially the Tigers (which my Husband is in charge of) are trying to do one each month if possible, with no pressure..except that felt by me.

So far this month my two ideas are a litter patrol, or a leaf raking...I know the boys would like to rake, but I don't know where it might need done...I also know they could easily pick up trash, but I don't know where...

hmm the church is having a Trunk or treat...I bet that leaves extra trash around after, maybe the boys could spend a few minutes of the next meeting taking care of it.....

You know this cub scout stuff is harder than it looks!

That isn't entirely true, I love fresh air popped popcorn with salted butter on top. I just rarely ever like pre-made packaged popcorn(I have a weakness for cheese popcorn on occasion though), and I have not been able to stomach microwave popcorn since I read a story on how the chemicals put in the bags gave the workers cancer (apparently one bag does not have enough to cause it, but a whole bunch in the air as you fill them does)

So why am I selling it?

It is the boyscout way...Girl scouts sell cookies (which in spite of the high sugar content, I love thin mints and the coconut ones). Boy scouts (and cubs) sell popcorn....

So now I have to wonder around thinking up folk who do not already have boys in the scouts to find at least some orders so I seem like I am participating....

Actually they have a popcorn for troops option where the company will pool the money (25dollars each) and send popcorn over to the troops...Since most folk don't mind high fructose corn syrup, I figure that is the way we will go with our obligatory purchase. And I know my mother likes the microwave stuff. But I really do not want anyone to feel obligated to buy it, so I wont be even telling the Uncle (then he might expect me to buy his kids school fund raisers again!)

Now out of that 25$ the pack gets 40%...lesse if my brain can handle the math yet...10$..I have to pay 25$ to get my kids pack $10??????? I think I would rather hand over 15 cash and call it a day!

Actually I wish I could come up with something the Tigers could do to earn money so that GMC could get some experience with work for cash, and I wouldn't have to buy popcorn...I am just drawing a blank.

He already does chores around the house, and extra chores are done when needed free of charge, part of being in this family....so I am drawing a blank.

For cub scouts my husband and son planted some seeds in a plastic ziplock bag..with dirt of course, ad a bit of water.

At first we thought it was hopeless, especially since my 2 year old shook up one of the bags, but as of now we have 2 inch shoots coming up. Skinny little shoots, but alive none the less.

The only question I have is...what do we do with them?

While our Sunday school 'class' is discussing Luther's reformation, the church is starting to sell books...

Is it me or is there something odd about a Lutheran church ... making money off of peoples desire to grow their families and personal faith?

Now I get that a church is a great place to find resources on faith. What better than to read a book your pastor has recommended (assuming you see eye to eye with him). I personally bought a terrific book on communion for kids because my pastor had it, he showed it to me, I read it, and I liked it. The church buys extras of this particular book so that parents can do that.

The difference is in the advertising, word of mouth sold me the first book. A magazine full of 100 books that I don't know anyone who read, will not.

Not to mention I doubt the pastor made a cent off the first book, everything about a book stand smacks of fund raiser.....

I had the opportunity to visit a family that has utilities included in their rent. When we first walked in (no one was home previously, it was an empty house) every light except the bathroom was on....every single one in the middle of a VERY sunny day! (not to mention hot)

The front door was left open after our arrival, and many other times during the visit. While the air conditioning was on low enough to make me cold (though admittedly I chill easily).

I cannot understand why anyone would leave fans, lights on, doors open....aside from the loss of air, there is the flys that come in! And while I am NOT a tree hugger, I do think needless waste is wrong, a little forethought will tell you financially the rent cannot afford to stay the same if you continue to waste electricity at such a rate, the rent will have to go up to cover it!

Not to mention the long term thought of children raised with no restrictions on electricity who may one day move out and buy a house, only to find electric bills are through the roof!

And besides, there is the environment to think about....

Well he will be tomorrow when he wakes up. To commemorate his almost two-ness, he skipped nap today...and reminded me how desperately he needs a nap!

We actually just bought his present today..wooden food for him to cook. Breakfast supplies, something we didn't have yet. He is a major chef, at the church nursery he is always cooking. At home he is always cooking. He even feels it is his job to help me cook every night (and lunch, and any other time he can squeeze his way in!)

Which is why the theme for his half of the birthday party is cooking.

Speaking of which I went with two sided invitations, actually a regular 8*11 sheet folded in half. The one side has picture of a couple cooking, the other upside down is a princess. When you open it it either says 'UE is cooking up a party' or on the facing side (upside down, but right side up if you opened it from the princess side) 'Princes JC is having a birthday ball'.

Across the bottom is all the important info, dates times and such. I thought it was kind of cute

All printed on my computer for...very little. Only thing I don't like is the lack of envelopes. I didn't come up with any. Though honestly since we will be hand delivering all the invites, I am not sure why an envelope is needed...it just seems improper to not have one.

Now in general I always thought of buying 'the good stuff' for company...but here I have a couple house guests coming for a weekend, and I have a list including things like canned vegetables! Canned, the cheap stuff we suffer thru when money is low (OK fine, money has never been that low here...) is what I am buying my guests!

Not because I am mean, but because thats what they like....so we buy for them, and learn a lesson in "one mans poison..."

cooking at princess...how do you mix those? expecially since the princess is turning 4 and the cook is turning 2...

Well basically you just do it

Two homemade cakes, one for each, and some fruit (berries, only wash to prep) some cheese, crackers....

Oh and burgers dogs and all the trimmings for that...you know the biggest problem is not the theme, it is space for the food!

I see all these elaborate centerpieces and I wonder how on earth anyone has room enough to put a centerpiece on a table with all the food! Or maybe they put a small amount out and constantly refill..unless the food will go bad, I pass on refilling!

My mother has offered to take care of crafts for the kids to do, something I rarely ever do since I have my hands full of cooking the food, no time to help kids with messy crafts. I think the kids will really enjoy the aprons and crowns though.

The only thing I have left to do is invitations and decorations....I wonder how a double fronted invitation would look...one side princess-y and one side cooking.....

I woke up yesterday morning about 4 am and shut the one window in the kitchen, it was a chilly 66ish. Then at a more normal hour of 7am while getting ready for church I was cold but it was already 69.

My friend mentioned to me how cold her house was that morning and I agreed, but said we only turn the heat on when the house is less than 63...hers was 54.

How on earth is my house 66 with a window open and hers 54? No mountains, similar area, suburbs. She does have a bigger house. But I didn't think it would make that much difference.

Do insulating curtains really make that much of a difference? I have a blanket in my living room since we haven't wanted to spend money till we picked a color. (finally decided on brown).

I also had my mother make me lined insulated curtains for our bedroom (black) and we have a simple cheap one in each of the kids rooms (ok find it is s sheet in the boys room .)

I wonder how well insulated our house will be when we get the kids curtains lined? (coming Christmas for JC, made again by my mother) Maybe I could skip heating the house in the winter, just bake a batch of muffins once every couple days!

It was a bit harder, but more fun..she got a flower...with a button right in the middle just for fun

I cut out denim to be the inside of the jeans and then felt to go on top, cause the denim would prolly fray, and the felt wouldn't....but after I was a third of the way through it occurred to me that felt is not very strong, and is likely to rip under normal small child wear and tear....

Oh well. It was a first and a test, looks cute right now anyway.

We went to the grocery store last night.
First the cute part, my almost 2 year old wanted to eat the broccoli...out of the bag,It was frozen! He was adorable insistent that he get broccoli....when Daddy told him mommy had to cook it first he decided he wanted broccoli for snack! Of course you know if it was cookies he wanted I would be embarrassed not indulgent....(we had apricots for snack anyway)

Now the shopping cart effect...I think shopping carts are driving up the prices of food.

Consider that I have never been to a store in recent years (since having kids) and needed a cart and NOT seen at least one out of place..in the middle of the parking lot, or just up on a curb...not once..in 5 years.

Yesterday I counted as we put 10 shopping carts away (in corrals or in the store). 10! at least 10 people were so inconsiderate as to leave their carts less than 10 yards from the corrals or store entrance....

Now I will admit my kids thought it was great fun to round them all up (we were cart wranglers) but I found it very irritating as a fellow working for the store was on the other end of the parking lot getting paid to move his 10 carts back to the store...(plus the 50 or so actually neatly in the corrals)

The store has to spend more money on the workers time to fetch and carry carts....This has to drive up the price of the food in the store. Why on earth anyone would willingly make food cost more for themselves and everyone else is beyond me.

My husband went to the store (different store) the day before and while putting a cart he found beside his car back offered to help a lady who took the last item out (by all appearances physically fit lady) and just picked two wheels up and left it on the curb...then as he is coming back from that he witnesses another lady doing it as well.....why a simple trip to the store to buy yogurt has to take 15 minutes longer due to the rudeness of other people I just don't get it.

Do people not think about others anymore? Maybe it is the video game mentality..you walk out of a room and the 'stuff' 're-pop's and the mess is cleaned up...walk back in and find a fresh new no work needed place.....real life isn't like that, you make a mess someone else has to deal with that...

I suppose someone is going to tell me it is a safety issue..if you do not feel safe walking from your car to a store, stay home or hire a body guard. If you must go out then call 911 or your mom while you put your cart away....but please don't stoop to the level of not caring about your surroundings.

Well mostly free, take advantage of what you are already spending on..

I just got a wonderful love poem in my email from my wonderful husband.

Didn't cost a cent, and yet it plastered a goofy love sick smile on my face...one that might even last past the kid troubles till he gets home.

I am sitting here at naptime, my time to be alone and have peace, and in the background I hear birds, some bugs, but lots of birds...a bit of wind rustling by and the occasional 'white noise.

It isn't a nice new recording, no electricity needed, it is actual birds from the actual weeds/err woods we have out back.

The white noise was an airplane

Anyway I was thinking of the nature sounds CDs I used to like when I was a city kid....

I might not like everything about living here, but I love getting the country sounds and still being close enough to civilization to order in..if I could ever force myself to spend that much money that is!

And I have a big bad yucky one.

No not from drink, I have only been hung over from drinking twice...and the last was over 6 years ago.

Nope it is from reading, oh laugh all you want, but a huge migraine, light sensitivity, not to mention nausea, all add up to one whopper of a hangover.

All addicts get them once in a while, but some of us feel a bit sillier about it. Who ever heard of a teacher swearing off reading!

Ah well..next time I will pace myself better...isn't that the promise of all hung over addicts? That if you can't avoid a next time you will at least aim for moderation?

I told my supplier only to leave me with one book, but no he had to drop off three! There aught to be a law .

Now I am off to read the third book, once the house is rid of the drug in it's fresh never read form I can stop thinking about it..and I will know how the dama and her cats made out.........

Powers that be

The short version..take the tightwad gazette recipe, mostly double, adjust for health, and flavor as desired...

To be more precise.....err well bear with me, I am not a precise baker...though one thing I have learned, measure baking powder right (level off and all)

All muffins are done when a finger pressed lightly in them bounces back quickly.

Cakes require a dry toothpick..they never bounce well, to moist.

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The muffin recipe was designed using the molasses cookie one roughly tripled in flavor (since the muffins have around triple the flour) the cookie recipe I will have to work on for you.

Molasses Muffins:

Pre-heat oven to 425
In a large bowl combine:

2 cups white flour
3 cups whole wheat flour
3/4-1 cup brown sugar
couple pinches of salt
5 teaspoons of baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons cloves
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

In a large measuring cup mix:

2 cups of milk
1/2 cup oil
1/2 - 3/4 cup molasses
2 or 3 eggs

Place liners or grease pans....check if oven is hot (mine has a light)

Pour wet into dry, stir lightly

spoon into muffin cups (I use a small scoop for the mini muffins and one large scoop for big muffins.

bake 15 minutes..give or take (take em out right after you notice how wonderful the house smells!

Makes about 3dz mini and 1 1/2 dz large (that happens to be about how many I own...)

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I have two recipes for pumpkin, one is sweet and 'the good kind' the other is healthy...The sweet kind is mostly out of the joy of cooking, but kinda doubled.

The Good Pumpkin Bread

Preheat oven to 350

Cream:

2 2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup soft butter
2 eggs

Mix in: 1 can pumpkin (15oz)

add in:
2 cups white flour
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp cinnamon

Add in:
2/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Bake in 3 mini loaf pans and one regular (20 min mini, 60 min regular) or for muffins around 15 minutes

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This comes from the back of a Hershey's cocoa box..with a few health changes.

Chocolate muffins

Preheat oven to 350 (empty as needed!)

In a large bowl combine:

1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup white flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup hersheys cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
salt

Put the kettle on

In a large liquid measuring cup mix:

1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla

Prepare muffin cups

combine wet and dry ingredients

Add one cup boiling water (it will be very thin!)

Pour into muffin cups bake around 15 minutes.
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Hope you like em.

The season of endless baking is upon us...

Today was (well is, still in the oven) molasses muffins and cupcakes (nieces birthday..late)

And I need to make more for Tuesday (cubscouts..so far offers of snack help have been just that..offers.)

For Wednesday..Music class..I seem to be the only one with a family that cannot make 2 hours without food...

Then I get to make more for Friday ....camping trip, I want to pack some snacks I know the kid and husband will eat, plus some to share.

Then again for next Sunday (can't make it thru church and Sunday school without eating.)

But I like baking...I am tired, and sometimes have trouble, not every muffin I make tastes good, thoush some are great. I am looking forward to pumpkin muffins, and fudge (gifts) and mollasses cookies (mmm the house smells good right now!)

K gotta take em out.

I noticed it is actually getting colder, like we only have half the windows open instead of all of them..

The real issue is going to PA where it really was chilly one day and worrying that my son might be cold due to holes in his knees..something enviable in hot weather, but not so much in cold.

So I grabbed a pair of my hopelessly un-patch-able jeans cut out a portion and sewed it onto my sons...didn't take long. I started and finished it while the kids were doing school work this morning..but..the end result is he has a oval patch..you can clearly see the stitching (I didn't have the right color, and I have WAY to much thread to be buying any.)

I am not sure he cares..but I do. If he was my daughter a pretty pink thread and a butterfly or flower shape would make her happy..but he is too old for trucks on his pants..not sure if there is a solution.