Kids & Earning Money

We've never given our kids allowances.  Now that they are getting older though they are starting to need more spending cash for various things.  Things that neither Hubby or I deam our responsibility to pay for.  So, in an effort to teach our children about money (and hopefully give them a better chance of being responsible as adults) we are doing something a little different.  The kids will earn money on chores that they do.  I made a list of all kinds of chores that they could do around the house. Each one was then given an amount and how often they can do that chore.  For example... emptying the dishwasher.  That's something that happens everyday.  Where as vaccuming the stairs happens once a week.  I printed out this chart and put it into a page protector and put it on the fridge.  One for each girl.  It's nice because the page protector works great with dry erase markers.  The kids will be paid at the end of each week.  At which time they will put a minimun of 10% in their savings account.  Their savings will be in the cloth envelopes below.  They will keep track of all money coming and going from these envelopes.  Our goal is for the savings accounts not to be touched unless they are saving for something that they really really want.  Any other money that they get from birthdays, holidays, etc will be handled the same way. 

We have always been very careful with what we allow them to spend their money on.  We have never let them buy something random at will.  They need to think about it for a few days and if they are still really wanting it then we will usually let them get it.  With this new plan however, spending money will be allowed to be spent on whatever they want.  This will be hard for us because neither hubby or like to see money spent on junky toys that will be broken and forgotten in a day.  But, we feel that they need to learn more about responsible spending.  So, an example of free spending... Lets say that Ali spends her $5.00 on candy in the student store and then decides later that she would have rather spent that money on earrings.  She has just learned that perhaps not all her money should have been spent on candy.  Her earrings would have lasted her a very long time were as the candy was gone quickly.  Maybe next time she'll really think about what she wants before spending it all.   Maybe only $1.50 on candy and the rest saved for those earrings.

We are hoping this will work out.  So far the kids have been more excited to do chores!

My September Garden

We are half way through September and we've been having July/August weather.  It's no wonder that my veggies are confused.  I've been told by a few "seasoned" gardeners that my veggies are fine for the weather that we are having.  I don't know if they are being nice or serious.  To me, the garden isn't producing like I thought it would.  I've decided to make a gardening journal so I can remember things from this year next year.  I do have to say though, that the veggies and herbs are awesome!  No comparison to grocery store veggies.  Next year.... I want a much much larger garden.

The tomatoes are doing the best of everything.  They grew quite large in size.  The fruit is smaller than what the tags said they should be.  The cherry tomatoes are about 1/2 the size of the ones in the grocery stores.  But, they do taste better!  The Early Girl tomatoes should be 4-5 oz each and they are mostly 2 oz each.  But, again... they are tasty!

I've been able to harvest 3 cucumbers.  The plant itself seams to be doing quite badly.  It's got very yellow and brown leaves.

The bell peppers are still going.  I've only harvested 2 so far, but there are quite a few on the bush still growing.  I'm hoping to have bell peppers for at least another month.

The zucchini squash are just sad.  I think I need to plant only one plant per pot next year.  Just sad....

The green beans have been sad too.  They never got larger than 10" tall and only produced 5 beans.  No picture of these because they are really boring!

Overall I'm happy with my results this year.  Considering how black my thumb is.  I've gotten a great sense of accomplishment out of growing things I can feed my family.  I still hate weeding and cutting the grass.  Give me a yard with just some grass and raised gardening beds and I'd be a happy gardener!

My Current Diaper Stash And Review Of My Favorite Pattern

I've been asked for an updated review of my favorite diaper patterns.  It's actually pretty simple now.  LDD aka: LaDiDa's.  This was a pattern that I heard rave reviews about for months before I caved and bought the pattern.  I've bought many many cloth diaper patterns and have now sold all but 4.  I've kept Fattycakes because I love them as covers.  Je'Mapelle because it fits nice and has many many styles.  A new one that I've forgotten the name of and have yet to try and of course LDD's. 

Daytime Diapering:  My stash currently consists of 11 of my altered LDD's.  I've made them medium long by adding about 2.5" through the rise and I've added some width across the front by cutting it at a bit of an angle on the fold.  This allows for more room in his front where he needs more soaking area.  For a girl you probably wouldn't need this.  I've made a few with a fun print on the outside back and tabs. (meaning that the print goes about 1/3 down the back)  I've found that these wick if he soaks his diaper good.  It doesn't happen often, but it happens enough for me to make new diapers with the embellishment just on the tabs. 

 

For soakers, I think I've tried it all.  Flannel, sweatshirt fleece, terry cloth, hemp, bamboo, jersey cotton, and microfiber.  But, my absolute favorite is ZorbII diamond.  This stuff is insanely soft, easy to wash, and absorbs like crazy.  All his diapers have one internal soaker of this stuff and a two layer soaker that snaps in.  This is the perfect amount for him during the day.  Non of my diapers have a wicking layer, but I do have some microfleece rectangles cut out and on his changing table if I think he'll be in a diaper for longer than usual. 

Construction of my diapers is fairly basic.  I use PUL for the outsides and something soft and wicking against his skin.  I usually use minky or suedecloth.  I like the minky better, but it costs more.  I prefer non cased elastic on the legs as I find they leave less marks.  My diapers are currently half cased and half uncased.

 

Nighttime Diapering:  I've been using sposies for months at night.  I know, I know..... shamefull!!!  But, I have yet to find the perfect way to diaper him at night.  I've tried fitteds with covers, super absorbent layers in an AI2, and even 2 prefolds with a cover.  Now only did he have a massive cloth diaper bum that looks terribly uncomfortable, but I still had to change him in the night at least once or twice.  Now that he's older though I want to try again.  I'm thinking my basic diaper with maybe 4-5 layers of Zorb II.

Well... That's my stash.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Garden Update - Late July

 The garden is growing well.  Though honestly, I wouldn't be able to tell you if it was truly thriving.  But, from what I can tell... things are starting to happen.

My herb table is looking lush and green.  We pluck something from it almost every night.  The pot in the center is mint, peppermint, and pineapple sage.  After I took this picture I decided to split them up into their own pots.  They are doing much better now.  I can't believe how big they got.  I need to learn to dry these herbs to use them in the winter.  Especially for tea.

As you can see my tomatoes are doing well.  I'm actually quite surprised.  On my big tomato plant I have about half a dozen 1" or so tomatoes growing.  I seem to find a few more itty bitties every day.  I can't wait until they get big and red!  My cherry tomato plant is also going strong.  There are a few dozen tomatoes started.  Ray is sooo excited about these.

My hanging cucumbers are starting to grow too.  There are many 1" cucumbers started.  I've never seen them grow before so this is exciting!!

I've harvested two 4-5" green bell peppers so far.  There are 3 more on bush and the red bell pepper plant is just starting.  Hubby says that the bell peppers that we've eaten so far were't to great.  Hmmmm.....

The zucchini has 5 started and lots more flowers.  2 are not going to make it, but the other 3 are looking good.  Some of the leaves are turning yellow.  I think I need to fertilize with something.  I will have to look that up.

The green beans, strawberries, and blueberries are very uninspiring.  Very small strawberries, only a few very small green beans so far and only a dozen or so blueberries that may ripen up.  Hopefully they will get better as the weeks go by.  No photo of these as they aren't that interesting right now.

All in all we are having lots of fun with our garden.  I am loving seeing things grow that we can eat.  Very satisfying.  Next year we will definitely be planting more variety.

Happy 11th Birthday Alaina!

On the 13th my oldest turned 11.  I can't believe how fast she is growing and changing.  Being in full "tween" stage she is now all about nail polish, clothes, earrings, makeup, etc. Her favorite activities are reading, riding her new bike (even though it's pink), playing board games, coloring (she is currently doing fun geometric drawings with some "nice" colored markers), shopping and her new love... photography.

She is just as sweet as they come.  She is kind to everyone.  Polite.  She wants to learn pretty much anything that she can.  She is very interested in all things science and math.  And, likes to be called Alicat.

Being very much her fathers daughter, she wants to be involved in everything that her daddy is doing.

My daughter is turning into a wonderful young lady.  With a very open heart and a kind soul.  We love her dearly.  Happy 11th Birthday Alaina!!!

Butter Making In My KitchenAid

Something I thought I would never do is make butter. I do all my baking and cooking from scratch, so we use a lot of butter.  But, with the price of real butter at almost $4.00 a pound, I was kinda forced to "do something" about it.  I saw a post here and decided to give it a try.  (there are some video tutes on youtube as well)  I bought the cheapest whipping cream I could find. (hopefully next time I'll be able to get some on sale) and I put it in my KitchenAid.  Turned it on and let it go.  It took about 15 minutes total and my splash guard really helped.  The kids thought it was "awesome!"  It was very interesting to see it go from cream, to fluffy "whipped cream", to butter & buttermilk.  In the end I spend $3.25 on the carton of Whipping cream and I got 11.5 oz of butter and 2.5 cups of buttermilk.  The butter tasted amazing and the buttermilk whole wheat oat pancakes that we had that night were equally amazing.  The kids are now asking me for more!  I'll definitely be making more when I need butter and it's not on sale. 

The Start Of My Edible Container Garden

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a black thumb.  You may remember my post from last year about planting seeds.  Yeah... they all died.  We ended up buying two tomato plants and a strawberry plant.  Planted them in those upside down thingies.  Yeah.... those died too.

This year is they year! I am going to grow food.  I will not let my plants die of over or under watering.  I will produce something edible and yummy.  I started with some good container potting soil.  I bought some 10" tomatoes and some smaller bell pepper plants and a cucumber plant.  Some tiny herbs and strawberries and a blueberry bush.  Here are my tomato plants!

These pics were taken about 2 weeks ago.  The tomatoes are now about 8" taller than pictured.  They are doing great!  I've been keeping them watered and fertilized.  I've been pruning anything that is looking wilty and I've been making sure the stems are going over the wires for support.

Here are my other goodies.  In the blue pot are some  red and yellow bell pepper that are newly planted. Next to that is my green bell pepper plant.  I've had this one for a month or so now.  It currently has a 5" and a 4" bell pepper growing as well as a few 1" ones!  The small plant next to that are some zuchinni squash.  Next to that are green beans.  In the larger white pot in the corner is my blueberry bush.  I'm not expecting this one to do much in the way of fruit this year.  But, as the years go by it should start producing nicely.  In front of the blueberries are my strawberries.  These are growing like mad.  We've only had a few very small berries so far.  But, we all agree that they are the best berries we've ever tasted. - Just a note that the picture was taken 2 weeks ago.  All of the plants have grown quite a bit since then!

 And finally I have my herb table.  Missing in the front left is my basil.  We LOVE basil.  In the back left is cilantro and chives.  In the middle green pot is peppermint, sweet mint, and lemon something... In the back right is oregano.  This one came up from last years oregano.  And in the front right is Italian parsley.  Again, it's been 2 weeks since this photo.  All my herbs are doing great.