Collecting Money from Fall Product Sale

After this week of trying to collect money from neighbors that placed orders from Tumbling Girl, I now know that I never want to work for a collections agency.  Even though my neighbors ordered the items, and they had arrived, I felt so awkward asking for the money that they owed.

I ended up breaking the rules a bit.  Technically, I was supposed to fill out an Outstanding Debt Report Form because I have a lifelong friend that had enough money to throw a big party over the weekend, but not enough to pay the $7 that he owes.  I am also not comfortable loaning him the money.  I loaned his girlfriend a little over $30 2 weeks ago because she was supposed to get paid that weekend.  I spotted her the money for my son's popcorn fundraiser for Cub Scouts.  She is actually working, so there's a chance that she'll pay me back.  Lesson learned, though.  He is unemployed, so I don't want her getting stuck with his debt, either.  I'm just not comfortable loaning money to an unemployed person.
 
Money is already pretty tight around here, but his order only came to $7.  My hubby and I talked about it and we agreed to pay for it.  However, if he and his girlfriend don't pay us back, we are keeping the orders.  We paid for them, after all.

I am doing this in part so that there are no hurt feelings between all of the kids.  Our kids play together.  I know how awkward things can get when parents are having issues.

Last year, a family in our neighborhood placed an order for popcorn and didn't pay for it.  For that fundraiser, however, orders must be paid for first.  I kinda think I like that better after this.  I tried to keep it between the adults, and told them when they had to pay by.  They didn't pay, so their popcorn order didn't get placed.  I thought that everything was fine until they sent their kids over to collect their popcorn.  I told them that the payment and order were handled through the grownups and they needed to send their parents over if there were any questions.  They also were telling people that they did pay and we kept it.  This year, I just told that family about the store front sales and told them that if they wanted to place an order, to go to the stores and get the popcorn on the same day that it is paid for.  I'm also a much bigger fan of store front sales after this week.

Thanks for reading!

~Vanessa

Packtober Party

Tonight was my son's Cub Scout Packtober Party.  It's nearly a week before Halloween, so it made me get an early start on having the kids' Halloween costumes done.  My son is Super B.  My daughter wanted to be a superhero, as well.  I made a tutu to make it a little more girly.  However, once she saw the tutu, she wanted to just wear that and be a princess.

Here are the costumes so far:

Tumbling Girl's needs a couple of final touches.  I forgot the crown!  I couldn't believe it!  lol, luckily this was kind of a dry run for Halloween.

The Packtober Party was also a blast!

Thanks for reading!

~Vanessa

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies from Instant Oatmeal Packets

I'm just kind of in a baking mood right now, so I decided to make oatmeal cookies.  Plus, the family is going to Cub Scout's Packtober Party tomorrow night.  It is the first award ceremony of the school year/Halloween party.

The kids need to bring a baked good each, so I decided on oatmeal cookies because A) It's easy and hard to mess up, and B) we have tons of instant oatmeal packets that need used up.  My dad shops at Costco and will give us bulk items that he thinks we can use.  Most of it gets used up quickly.  Oatmeal is another story.  We also get oatmeal packets from the food bank.  So, we have oatmeal coming out our ears, or at least out of the container that I keep it in and nearly coming out the cupboard shelf.

Whenever I make cookies, I use Grammy's cookbook.  She and Grandpa got it as a wedding present in the '50s, so that makes it extra special!  My grandparents divorced when my mom was a kid.  As far as I know, this is one of the few things left from their marriage.  Grammy passed away about a year and a half ago, also.

Since I was making it with instant oatmeal, I only used one cup of sugar.  I also did not put any extra spices in it.  Nearly all of the instant oatmeal packets that I used were flavored.  Don't worry, I only used brown sugar or cinnamon flavored oatmeals and none of the fruit flavored ones.

To be on the safe side for the party, I made the chocolate chip oatmeal cookies for the party with no nuts.  I am now making the batch for my family, so I added walnuts to the batter.

They turned out pretty good!

To make them special for the Packtober party, I will let the kids ice and decorate them tomorrow after school.

Thanks for reading!

 - Vanessa

Processing Gleaning Efforts/Distractions from Neighbor Kitten

My hubby has been doing a gleaning job for the past week nearly everyday, on top of his regular part-time job.  Gleaning is basically clearing the fields of leftover harvest/plants at the end of the season.  He is working for people that sell some produce at their produce stand on their property, as well as selling produce at the Farmer's Market.  My hubby has been able to take home some of the produce.  The local food bank also comes out to glean and take produce.

I decided that today is a good day to process the gleaned produce, as the house was smelling very onion-y from the onions and leeks.  Here are some "before" pics of the produce:

The hubby had left some of it outside, so I brought it in to process and inspect all of it.  While I was outside, Neighbor Kitten looked so cute playing with some of the fallen kale leaves that I put the dogs out and let it come inside for a bit.

Don't get me wrong, I love my dogs, but I really miss the company of a kitten.  It's been 7 years since my cat ran away (he didn't like kids).  Cats really do provide things that dogs can't.  I really missed having a kitten sit on me and purr.  My dogs are 8 years old and 50 - 60 pounds each.  They're not exactly lap dogs, although they think they are sometimes.

Neighbor Kitten helped/hindered my efforts, but it was entertaining enough that it was worth it.  I really hate calling it "it," but I haven't bothered to find out its sex.  I forgot to take some pics of Kitten on the table "helping me."  I didn't even let my cat on the table, I must have really had kitten withdrawal this morning.  Kitten helped itself to some spilled dog food, but don't tell the dogs, lol.

To start out processing the produce, I cut the greens off of a couple beets and gave them to the guinea pigs. They'll gladly help out by eating excess veggies :)  I managed to fit the rest in the produce bin in the fridge, although it is now 90% beets.

The hubby cut off the most desirable parts of the leeks.

Here is what we were left with:

Some ugly (but delicious) potatoes

Squash galore:

I had to toss about a box full of unusable produce/parts.  I managed to salvage 3/4 boxes full, though!  I'm kinda picky when it comes to what produce I'm willing to pay for.  When it comes to free freggies, though, my standards are pretty lax.  The onions were too far gone, so I couldn't salvage any.  However, I will put them in the compost pile and we'll have wild onions next year!  Most of what I tossed was moldy and decaying.

I gotta admit, I miss having a cat something fierce.

I was thinking about talking to my neighbors about adopting this one.  Their kids dyed it blue, as you can see, so I don't think they'd miss it much.

I snapped out of this, however, when Neighbor Kitten took too much of an interest in my guinea pigs!

With having 2 large dogs, the guineas are pretty used to having larger animals take notice of them.  My 2 older guineas, Cleo and Coco, lived with a cat in the house with their first family.  Coco was especially skiddish of the kitten, so she may have had a bad experience with the cat at her first house.

Cleo is the most brave/mellow in regards to other animals.  However, even she had had enough of Kitten when it leaped inside their cage.

Cleo screamed for help, so it was time for Kitten to go home.  I just picked it up and put it back out on the porch.  I know that I need to protect the pets that I already have, but it was a little heartbreaking to hear Neighbor Kitten meowing outside the door.

Thanks for reading!

 - Vanessa

"Character Pumpkin" Homework Assignment

My daughter's homework assignment was to make a character pumpkin for a literacy project.  She chose a Junie B. Jones book, Junie B.Jones is Captain Field Day.  I think the pumpkin turned out pretty cute!

Thanks for reading!

- Vanessa

First Official Girl Scout Meeting

We had our first "official" Girl Scout meeting this week.  I say "official" because getting this troop to become "official" is still a work in progress.  My daughter and I are the only 2 that have registered as members.  I need my co-leaders and the rest of the girls to do the same.  We've been trying to get this started since March of last year, so it's a little disheartening.

Anyway, the first meeting went well.  Because we're still working on getting things going, no one has their handbooks or Journey books yet.  I managed to find digital copies online to use for now.  To introduce them to the Promise and Law, I bought foam dots at the dollar store and printed out the Promise and Law and glued it to each side.  I made a necklace/decoration for them.

We had snack during announcements.  I love Fall and usually have friends and family over to do caramel apples.  We may still do that later.  For snack, I cut up green apple slices and heated up caramel dip.  I also bought Halloween colored sprinkles so the girls could decorated their slices if they liked.

We have decided that we'll do 2 meetings per month, plus one craft night.  My co-leaders work, so their time is pretty limited.  We can only meet for an hour for each meeting.  I bought the girls little notepads for things that come to mind in between meetings.  They were only 27 cents each at Walmart!

Thanks for reading!

 - Vanessa

Chicken Cordon Bleu Roll-Ups, Fried Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, and Mashed Potatoes

My kids like things better when they're jazzed up a little.  I love chicken cordon bleu.  So, to take it a little more appealing for them, I cut the chicken into fillets and roll them up.  I hold them in place with toothpicks, then dip it in egg and coat with bread crumbs.  Last time I made them, I used Panko crumbs and really liked it.  The bread crumbs worked fine, though.  I then baked them for a half an hour.

I halved the small Brussels Sprouts and quartered the bigger ones.  I fried bacon while I did this.  This time, I used turkey bacon just because that's what I keep on hand for breakfast. I set aside the bacon and put in the sprouts.  I added small amounts of broth and water to steam the sprouts and keep them from burning and sticking to the pan.  When they were almost done, I crumbled the bacon and added it.  I have also added onion in the past.  I really enjoy it, but the hubby and kids don't.

I also made mashed potatoes to go with dinner.  All I had on hand was boxed mashed potatoes, so that's what I used.

It turned out to be a good meal with items that I mostly had on hand!

Thanks for reading!

 - Vanessa

Homemade Ravioli - Wolf Cub Scout Requirement 8C

At the last den meeting, the boys were given homework.  They have to work on most of the requirements for Achievement 8 - Cooking and Eating with their family.  Leave it to me to pick such a difficult choice as ravioli!  I've always wanted to try making it and thought it would be fun to involve the kids.

We found a basic recipe online that just called for white flour, eggs, and olive oil.  I use at least a white/wheat flour mix for health reasons.  My hubby has diabetes and wheat flour is healthier than white, so it's all that I have on hand.  I should have bought some just for this, as the ravioli thickened a little and had a bread-y texture.  It was good, overall, though.  We also made the recipe by hand, rolling out the dough, and all.

Like the recipe said, we divided the dough in half into 2 balls and let them sit to let the gluten relax.

We used ricotta, feta, and spinach for the filling.  It was a great choice, if I do say so myself :)

Like I said, I rolled out the dough with a roller.  I don't have a pastry cutter, so I used our Star Trek Enterprise pizza cutter instead of a knife just because it was more fun :)

We made some large and medium sized raviolis just to see the differences.  There really wasn't much of a difference.  I couldn't master the small ones at all, lol.

And one of the finished plates

This was a lot of fun!  Like I said, my recipe leaves a lot of room for improvement, but it was fun to involve the kids!

Thanks for reading!

 - Vanessa