Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Queen Bee Gets Into A Pickle

I got myself into a pickle yesterday...
 
 
Thankfully Honey was here to help me out.

 
We made sweet pickles, bread and butter pickles, dill pickles, and lime pickles (which are still soaking!)
 
 
I remember how I loved eating my Grandma's lime pickles when I was younger so I had to try these.  They should be done soaking and ready to can tomorrow!  I can't wait to try them. 
I expect that the Bees will be canning some more soon.  Honey seems to be really into it.  Next up as per Honey's request....peaches!
 

 

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Amazing Week At Weis Markets

It has been awhile since I posted some amazing coupon deals.  I have to admit I took some time off from couponing just due to the fact that life has been a little busy lately.  During this time I tried out some other stores but none compare to the deals I can find at Weis Markets.  This week I HAD to make the trip to Weis Markets for some excellent deals!   I was able to get a cart of groceries for just $59.81! If you minus off the $25.00 worth of Catalina coupons that printed at the register the total would come to $34.81!  If I would not have used any coupons or did any of their amazing deals it would have cost me $128.11!  Here is one of the deals I did... 
 
This week when you purchase $30.00 worth of Kimberly-Clark and Colgate products a $10.00 coupon will print at the register to be used at your next shopping trip.
 
If you have a baby and need diapers, purchase 3- Huggies Jumbo pack diapers and 1-Huggies soft pack of wipes.  
 

Here is how my transaction broke down:
Total shelf price of above items: $32.26
Total sale price: $28.86
-$4.50 (3- $1.50 off of 1 coupons printed from www.coupons.com)
-$1.00 (1-$0.50 off of 1 coupon printed from www.coupons.com)
-$1.00 (1-$1.00 off of 1 coupon from Get Grillin' coupon booklet available at Weis Stores)
=$22.36
-$10.00 off coupon (will print at register)
-$5.00 off coupon (additional Catalina printing at register when you buy 3 packs of diapers!)
=$7.36 for 3 packs of diapers and 1 pack of wipes!!!!


Now you know why I just had to make the trek to Weis.  Thanks goes out to my sister for watching Bumble and Stinger for me while I shopped!  There are other marvelous deals at Weis this week and I will post some later this week. 

Monday, July 29, 2013

A Bee Loses Another Tooth

Bumble has lost another tooth,
and she thinks its pretty cool,
to have no teeth in the front,
It makes a nice resting place for her tongue!
 
 
Her mama is a little sad
to see her girl growing up so fast
I know this is all part of God's plan
but wasn't I just celebrating this tooth coming in?
 
 
 

Saturday, July 27, 2013

The Bee's Sticks And Stones: Update

I promised a picture of our front yard showing you how much work the young people did the other night.  Well here you go...
 
Before:
 
After:


What a great job they did!! We have five piles of top soil here yet that should be spread next week and then we will continue to prepare it for grass seed.  I have to say I miss having a lawn, but Honey does not miss mowing it!

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Queen Bee Makes Blueberry Buckle

Honey surprised me with lots of fresh blueberries the other day.  I am using some in baking and some I have frozen for the kids.  Bumble and Stinger love frozen blueberries.  To freeze  blueberries I place them in a single layer on a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer.  After they are frozen I place them in freezer bags and put them back in the freezer.  This helps the blueberries to not stick together and they do not get mushy.  When Bumble and Stinger have a frozen blueberry craving I place some in cups and send them outside to eat them because when they are done they look like they could be members of the Blue Man Group!   
 
 One of the recipes I made using some of the fresh berries Honey bought was Blueberry Buckle.  I make this every year about this time. 
 
Here are the ingredients for the bottom layer...
 

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
2 cups blueberries

First cream together the butter, sugar, and egg...


Then add all of the dry ingredients alternatively with the milk.  Beat until smooth.


Then gently stir in the blueberries and set aside...


Now here are the ingredients for the crumb topping...

1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
 
Mix all of the ingredients together until crumbly...


Then place the mixture we made first in a greased baking dish...


Then sprinkle the crumb topping on top...


Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 35 minutes and this is what you get...

 
Yummy!  I should buckle down and make this recipe more often!

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

The Bee's Sticks And Stones

Honey works with a young man that offered the help of his young adult Sunday school class to help us pick up our sticks and rocks in our yard.   During the summer this group of young people go around in the community helping people out.  Can you believe they were having trouble finding somebody to help?  Honey took him up on this idea and they arrived tonight with lots of youthful energy!
As it turns out I know the woman that is one of the leaders of the group. I thought I recognized her, and when I heard her name I knew exactly why she looked familiar!  I went to church with her when I was younger.  It was fun catching up on what we have been up to the last several years.  After talking to a lot of these young people, I learned that many of them know some of our family and Honey even coached one of them!
 
 Here are Bumble and Stinger helping to pick up sticks and rocks before they arrived...  
 
 
 They thought this was fun...

 
Stinger liked carrying the dirt around...

 
A big THANK YOU goes out to this group of exceptional young people!  We were truly blessed by all your hard work and enjoyed your fellowship.  I will have to post a picture of the results!   

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Stinger Sleeps

A friend invited us Bees to go swimming at their house.  It's nice to have friends that aren't scared of Bees. Well, Bumble loved every minute of it and could have stayed all day.  She even put her entire head under water.  (This is the girl that screams if water drips down her face in the bathtub!)  I am quite proud of her! Stinger HATED the pool at first and would not let me put him in it.  After letting him warm up to the idea and after seeing how much fun his sister was having he finally gave in.  He LOVED it and had a smile on his face most of the time.  Within a minute of arriving back home this is how I found him. 
 
 
 Poor Stinger didn't even have time to take one of his shoes off! It was around 5:30 in the afternoon and I hadn't fed him supper yet so I cooked him scrambled eggs and tried to wake him so he would have something in his stomach before bed.  He would not wake up!!!  So I put him in his crib and he slept until 6:30 the next morning.  I finally found an activity that tires him out!    

Monday, July 22, 2013

The Bees Fly A Kite

I don't know if people fly kites anymore but us Bees do! Saturday was the perfect day for kite flying.  Bumble has a ladybug kite.  Here Honey is helping Bumble's ladybug learn to fly... 
 
 
Us Bees know a lot about flying.  Ladybug is a quick learner and was flying in no time...


Here Bumble is holding on tight to her ladybug and Stinger is amazed...

 
Stinger held onto the kite too with daddy's help of course.

 
Ladybug was definitely not scared of heights...

 
We did eventually convince ladybug to fly back down to the ground.  We did have to pull a few strings though!

Friday, July 19, 2013

Dear Produce Farmer

Dear Produce Farmer,
 
     I stopped by your roadside stand today.  I am not sure how you stand to be outside all day especially in this heatwave we have been having lately.  I broke out in a sweat just by carrying the watermelon I bought from you to my car!  I was looking forward to eating this big, red, juicy watermelon with the sweet corn my parents gave tonight for supper.  When I got home the big, red, juicy watermelon did not fit in my side by side refrigerator, so I decided I would cut it in half so it would fit and be nice and cold to devour after the corn.  I retrieved my cutting board from the cupboard and the sharpest knife I could find (which isn't very sharp because I have a fear of knives) and sliced it open and to my horror this is what I saw....   

 


My big, red, juicy watermelon was yellow!!!! I let out a shriek and Bumble came at once to my side. Bumble immediately declared she was not eating yellow watermelon.  A big, juicy, yellow watermelon just doesn't wet my appetite like a red one does.  How did I manage to buy this?  I highly recommend you put up a sign saying, "Warning! Those of you who do not like change please do not buy this watermelon!" or maybe just make a sign that says "yellow watermelons".  I think that would get the point across just fine!    I tasted it and it has the same consistency of a big, red, juicy watermelon but has a different taste.  Maybe it tastes different to me because my mind tells my taste buds that this is not a watermelon.  So after devouring our yummy, yellow sweet corn tonight, I served yellow watermelon instead of red.  I have to admit this mistake made me quite blue!
 
Sincerely,
               A Blue Bee 

Thursday, July 18, 2013

The Bee's TV

The Bees do not get any television channels at our new house, and we did not want to pay for cable. 
After doing some research we decided on a streaming player called Roku. 
 

 
     If you are not familiar with Roku it allows you to watch shows on your television via the internet.  We have had this now for about a month and we like it.  The only requirement for this to work is high speed internet and a router.  Then you just pick and choose the shows from the different channels that you want to watch.  The channels on the Roku itself are not necessarily mainstream channels. Some of them, like Netflix, require a subscription. We added a channel called PlayOn and this gives us access to all of the major networks as well as some cable channels like the History Channel, GAC, HGTV, etc. You cannot watch shows live as they air but you can access them the following day. If you are like us and do not schedule your lives around TV shows, PlayOn would be ideal for you. We paid a small extra amount and have the ability to download shows to our computer so we don't have to tolerate streaming interruptions.  

      The Roku and PlayOn are one time fees that amount to approximately $130. We will never have to pay another penny for either one of those services. The only monthly fee that we now pay is for subscriptions such as Amazon Prime which is a yearly cost of $80. That means that we now pay about $7.00 a month for TV!!! So, if you live in a rural area and can't seem to pick up any tv stations and do not want to pay the price of cable the Bees would recommend Roku.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Stinger's New Sound

     We are celebrating today as Stinger said the "b" sound yesterday for the first time in months!  His therapist was here and she had a puzzle that played music.  Before she would give Stinger a puzzle piece he had to make a sound first.  She started off by giving him a piece as long as he attemped to make a sound.  Then towards the end she introduced the "b" sound. At first he did the "b" sound very shyly but with some praise and encouragement by the end of the session he was very confident in it.  I am convinced that Stinger hears everything correctly in his head but either knows that it does not come out correctly therefore refuses to try, or it is just extremely hard for him to make sounds, especially consonants.
     Through working with his therapists we are discovering that Stinger is very motivated by music.  He is more likely to make sounds if music is involved in some aspect.  Stinger can hum the tune "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" quite accurately.   Our homework this week is to get him to sing this song using the "b" sound all the way through.  There will be a lot of "b,b,b,b,b,b,b" going on this week! 

Monday, July 15, 2013

The Bee's Plane

A plane landed on the roof of our hive the other day... 

 Thankfully it was just a Bee flying a plane in our desert.
Honey was able to get it down by throwing a ball at it. 
Then another Bee prepared for take-off...


The Bees really love playing with their airplane.  It's just "plane" fun!

Tomato and Cucumber Salad

I love this time of year when I can buy my vegetables and fruit at local roadside farm stands and not at the grocery store.  The taste is so much better than what the grocery stores have to offer.  I went on Saturday and stocked up for the week.  The first recipe I made was Tomato and Cucumber Salad.   This recipe is so much more flavorful using fresh produce right from the garden.
 
First you will need about three medium tomatoes, diced. 
 
 
Then two medium cucumbers, peeled and one onion, sliced.

 
Then mix them all together in a large bowl.

 
Now for the wonderful dressing.  Here are the ingredients...
 
2 Tablespoons Vinegar
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1-2 Teaspoons Minced Parsley (optional- I used dried parsley because that is what I had on hand)
 
Mix this all together in a bowl...

 
and pour over the tomatoes, cucumbers and onions...

 
Then marinate this in the refrigerator for 2 hours and when it is finished it will be delicious and refreshing.
 
(Just a note on the olive oil I use for this recipe.  I like the extra light tasting oil shown here below.  I used the darker olive oil when making this one time and I did not like it as well.) 

 
Next year Honey and I would like to have a small garden of our own.  I think Bumble especially would have fun helping me with it. Until then I will rely on the local farmer!
 
 
 

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Bumble Writes A Song

I finally bought the notebook that Bumble wanted.  That same afternoon, Stinger had a doctor's appointment.  Bumble informed me on the way to the appointment that this notebook was going to be her songbook and that she was going to write a song.  Here is the song Bumble wrote on the way to Stinger's appointment...
 
 
If you can't quite read it, let me translate it for you...
 
Nobody knows that it was my birthday
and nobody was there
and we had ice cream
and cupcakes
and we had cake.
 
Wow Bumble.  How depressing!  I think you might be a country music songwriter in the future.  I wish you could hear the mournful tune she put to this.  I have heard it many times in the last couple of days.  Making up songs is nothing new for Bumble.  If I remember correctly she sang her first original song at two years of age while brushing her teeth. 
Bumble, I love your songs!  You have brought a whole new meaning to the word "note" book!
 

Thursday, July 11, 2013

A Bee Loses A Tooth

  Congratulations Bumble!

 
She lost her first tooth! Bumble was eating corn on the cob the other night and bit down and said "ow"! I asked her what was wrong and she said her tooth hurt.  The word cavity entered my mind, but later when Honey brushed her teeth that evening he realized that her bottom tooth was really loose.  That was all Bumble needed to hear and the wiggling began!   She even requested food that was hard so she could bite down on it!  She wanted the tooth out!  It finally came out while she was eating cereal.  She was so thrilled!  I have to admit I was not expecting Bumble to lose a tooth this early.  She is only 4 1/2.  Don't children usually lose their first tooth when they are in kindergarten? Anyway, Bumble is quite happy about it so I guess that is all that matters.
 
 

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Someday...

 Someday...
 
 
when I am old...


I will look back...

 
and miss this...
 
 

and this...
 
 
and wish they were young again.


That's what people tell me anyway!   

Stinger Gets Ticked

This is the tick that was pulled out of Stinger's ear.
 
 
I found the tick on him while bathing him.  At first I thought he had a spider in his ear, but upon further investigation I found it to be a disgusting tick! Honey was away at the time.  I tried to get it out of his ear by myself but Stinger screamed until I thought he was going to stop breathing!  Honey finally came home and it took both of us holding him down to get this tick pulled out.  Let's just say Stinger was quite mad at us!  As a mom I am concerned about Lyme's disease, but I did some research and this tick seems to be a dog tick not a deer tick.  Hopefully Stinger will be alright and still love us!

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Queen Bee Makes Raspbery Crisp

The Bees may not have been able to find many raspberries on their walk the other day, but thankfully Honey's mother gave us some!!
 
 
I turned some of the lucky ones into Raspberry Crisp...

 
The recipe I used came from the Pioneer Woman.  She does recipes so beautifully I decided I would just refer you to her for the recipe!   Here is the link for this delicious raspberry crisp recipe http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/08/raspberry-crisp/
 
 
 


Monday, July 8, 2013

The Bee's Berry Hunt

The Bees trekked across their hot, dry, and barren desert the other day.  Our destination was the woods...
 
 
We were on the look out for raspberry bushes.  Notice Honey, Bumble, and Stinger's winter attire.   Nobody wanted to risk getting poison.  Us Bees can break out in poison just by looking at it! Remember Honey's experience last summer?

 
After the long trek that involved many screams and false snake sightings, we finally spotted some raspberry bushes...

 
Bumble started picking...


We didn't get very many raspberries but it was fun exploring our woods...


I am "berry" thankful nobody has broken out in poison yet!