Orca Books Coupon

My kids are doing the summer reading program through the library.  (This is a great program, if you have kids that haven't signed up yet!)  This week's prize was a $3 coupon at Orca Books.  They are excited about it and I'm letting them use their own birthday/tooth fairy money to teach them a little about budgeting, too.

I went there once when I was 22 years old and there was a misunderstanding about one of their policies.  I was frustrated and hadn't been back.  One of my friends suggested talking to the owner.  This was nearly 10 years ago, so I wasn't expecting much.  I'm glad I made the call, though!  The owner resolved it by giving me store credit.  Honestly, I was just glad to have it resolved.  I will be more than happy to take my kids there this weekend so they can redeem their coupons for a book!

Thanks for reading!

 - Vanessa

Cub Scouts Community Service Project - Pulling up Ivy

Today, my son and I joined his Cub Scouts pack for a service project.  All I knew from the email that was sent earlier in the week was the we should be prepared and dressed to work on a forested trail near Lake Lois. With this age group, I had expected to do something along the lines of picking up litter, as did many of the others.  However, the service project turned out to be pulling noxious English Ivy growing along the trail and posing a threat to trees.

I am tired, sore, bruised, and covered in sap.  It was a hot day, but luckily, there was a lot of shade from the trees.  This project was actually pretty meaningful to me, as I worked at State Parks in Volunteer Services and entered volunteer time sheets for groups like this that did work like this in parks owned by the state.  It was funny being on the other end of it.  I really appreciate what those groups did for the state parks after putting in a morning of this work.

Evidently, ivy spreads quickly and takes over an area, if given a chance.  It can even kill a tree by basically smothering it.

I was talking to one of the mom's about how much kids at this age emulate and imitate the behavior of others around them.  I completely agree, as I'm pretty picky about who my kids hang out with, and even border on over protective at times.  The other Cub Scouts and their parents are nice, though I'm not particularly close to anyone there.  Most of the parents are older and more established in life than my family.  I am sure that we are the youngest and poorest family of the pack.  But, all of the scouts are good kids for the most part and they have involved parents, like my husband and I.  It made me realize what a great group of kids these are to give up 3 1/2 hours on a Saturday morning to do some community service.

Thanks for reading!

 - Vanessa

Organizing the Kitchen

I spent most of the day organizing the kitchen with quite a bit of help from my kids.  As I've said before, I am horrible at taking "before" pics.  So, you'll just have to trust me that it looks a lot better.  I have a couple of pics for a comparison of sorts, though.

Here is a view of entering the kitchen.  The only big change there is that the kids' table is now gone.  They have had a little wooden table and plastic chairs since we have lived here.  They are both going to be in elementary school next year and are getting too tall and heavy for those, as they really are made for more toddler-sized children.  We got their little table because their booster seats for the big table were too wide for the chairs and it was too dangerous to have them sit in something where they could tilt over and hurt themselves.

I had a big box that I'd saved from the food dehydrator that my hubby bought last year (and we love) and some ceramic/pottery items sitting on top of the china hutch.  I decided to move the pottery into the china hutch, since we have so little china pieces.  The food dehydrator had been sitting on the "window sill" in the kitchen/living room wall.  However, every time I sit on the couch, it falls onto me.  Luckily, it has only fallen on me when not in use.  I decided to move it on top of the china hutch when not in use.

The shelving space on the hutch used to be primarily plastic grocery bags.  I'll talk more about them shortly.  I decided to make the open space half for dog accessories and then the large box that was on the top.  I went through my other cupboard to get rid of the extra cereal boxes.  From being on WIC, we have accumulated more cereal than I know what to do with.  I'll probably donate them to the food bank.  First, I'll check with my neighbors to see if anyone can use any.  The kids are on the Weekend Food program through their schools.  In order to give this great program justice, I'll dedicate an entire entry to them another time.  I put all of their loose individually portioned cereals in this box, too.  Hopefully, this will make them feel a little more empowered, too.  They will be able to choose and get their own cereal when we have this for breakfast.  My kids are pretty spoiled, though, and we typically eat eggs and meat for breakfast. 

The plastic bags hanging down are filled with plastic bottle caps, toilet paper rolls, and other recycled goodies just waiting for a project.  As I've mentioned, I'm going to be my daughter's Girl Scout troop leader.  I'm a little over-zealous at times, but I try to recycle and reuse as much as possible.

Back to the grocery bags.  This open section of the hutch was almost completely filled with plastic grocery bags.  I try to recycle as much as possible.  We do reuse plastic grocery bags, but we had enough to probably last for a lifetime.  I am going to donate them to the food bank, as I'm sure they will have a better use for them than just sitting there.  I kept half of a large bag full.  I'm sure that it will fill up again in no time from shopping.

As always, I am in a state of change with my house and I'm sure that there is still lots to do.

Thanks for reading!

 - Vanessa

Weekend in Spokane

Last weekend, my family and I went across the state for my husband's cousin's high school graduation.  It is so crazy to think that she is graduating already!  7 years ago, she was the flower girl/ring bearer in my wedding!

It was a very fun weekend and I got to meet some of my hubby's family that our kids and I had never met before!  We stayed (thanks to my mother-in-law!) at the Oxford Inn Suites.  I found it pretty easy to make good dietary choices on vacation.  My family and I swam every morning.  There was also a sauna and exercise room, though I didn't get to try either.  I've never been in a sauna, though I'd love to try one someday.  The weekend was very full and busy with family get-togethers, so there wasn't much down time.

The hotel was right by the Spokane River.  My family and I took a nature walk the first morning and went upstream.  We saw these rodents that made a home in some cracked cement.  They even stood up to see us.  I've never seen a rodent like these, so had no idea what they were.  We also walked on a bridge overlooking the river.  Gonzaga University was also along that trail.  The campus there is beautiful with all of the old buildings!

The second day, nearly the entire extended family joined us and we walked to a park on the other side of the river.  We went on the carousel and went in the water fountain there.  I liked that there was so much to do within walking distance of the hotel!

There was this metal goat statue that had vacuum-type suction on the nose/mouth area and would inhale bits of whatever that you put in your hand up to it.  My daughter was afraid of it, but my son wasn't.

It was a very fun trip!  The only thing missing was that I didn't get to hike up to see the horse statues at Scenic View.  It was so windy!  I got out of the car to get a better picture of the horses, but we just didn't feel safe enough to attempt the hike up the ridge.

Thanks for reading!

 - Vanessa

Homemade Graduation Card

My youngest sister graduated today from college with her Master's Degree in Public Administration!  My kids and I made this card for her.  We attended the graduation, but it was so crowded that we didn't get a chance to catch up with her.  I hope that she likes it!  We will see her tomorrow.

Thanks for reading!

 - Vanessa

Ooey Gooey Father's Day Present

This evening, I helped my kids and a few neighbors make a very gooey Father's Day present.  With my son being a Cub Scout and my daughter going into Girl Scouts, it also occurred to me that this would be an excellent scouting project.  In fact, it satisfies Tiger Cub Scout Elective 32 and Wolf Cub Scout Achievement 5E that I'm aware of.  I'm sure that it satisfies electives for other levels as well.

We made bird feeders out of pine cones and toilet paper rolls.  I learned by trial-and-error that putting the string on both made for much easier work later.  Next time, I may even try putting dried or fresh pieces of fruit on there.  I don't believe that my kids have ever done this craft and I hadn't made one since I was about their age.

I prefer crunchy peanut butter to eat, but thought that creamy peanut butter would be a better option for this project.  It will also be interesting to see which one that the birds prefer.  I have seen these made with toilet paper rolls and thought that we'd try it out.

My favorite part of this activity was that the only thing that I had to buy was the bird seed.  I had the:  peanut butter, toilet paper rolls, pine cones, yarn, and hole puncher already.  In fact, I got the pine cones at my daughter's last WIC appointment.  We don't have pine trees that have these big pine cones in my neighborhood.  I got some funny looks as we were leaving the appointment and picked up an armful to put in the car, but oh well, I knew that it would make a good project eventually.  I'd been saving up toilet paper rolls ever since I decided to become a Girl Scout leader, as well, for future projects.

I hope that the dads and grandpas will enjoy their gooey presents!

- Vanessa