Care and Feeding of Husbands

Even though there are times when I swear all I want is for my husband to enter a coma for just a couple of days (mostly so that I can redecorate the entire house with no thought for his tastes or our budget) ...the truth is that I love him.  So sometimes I have to find ways to tell him.  Yesterday, I made this little poster for his desk.  It was kind of an explanation of why I sometimes say, "I miss you" when he isn't even away.  The busy times in life sort of conspire against you and you end up missing that special someone...even if you see them all the time.

You are welcome to use this card for your special someone as well.  Or for any other non-commercial purpose.  Click on the image and you will be able to download the 8.5 x 11" .pdf version.

Watermelon Salsa Recipe

I come across a lot of recipes on Pinterest and lots of them look really good.  Unfortunately, not all of them taste really good.  So I've decided to start posting the ones that do (or the ones that do with a bit of alteration) onto my own blog.  You can be confident that any recipe you read on my blog has been tested in the Lemmon kitchen and found to be delicious.

The latest recipe to emerge from the Lemmon test kitchen is watermelon salsa.  I found the original recipe on Pinterest and it was very exact.  All the ingredients were measured in spoonfuls and quarters of cups.  I'm not good at that.  I like to be more approximate...which is probably to say that I'm just lazy.

At any rate, here's my rewritten watermelon salsa recipe (which, by the way, turned out absolutely great!)

1/4 of a seedless watermelon diced into cubes
1/2 of a cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced into smaller pieces then the watermelon
1/2 to 1 jalapeno pepper (depending on how hot you like it) seeded and diced into very small pieces
1/2 of a red bell pepper seeded and diced into pieces the same size as the cucumber
1/3 of an onion diced
6 basil leaves finely chopped
4 mint leaves very finely chopped
1/4 of a bunch of cilantro chopped (about 1/3 cup)
the juice from one lime
a good, long squeeze of honey (about 2 tbspns worth)
a couple shakes of salt

Stir all the ingredients together and let them sit covered in the fridge for at least 2-3 hours.

This salsa is amazing.  I thought it sounded good, but it was even better than it sounded.

Non-Extreme Couponing

I don't buy cartloads of toothpaste.  Even if it's free.  Why?  Two reasons really.  First, I don't have a need for cartloads of toothpaste and second, the amount of time required to line things up in order to be able to buy cartloads of free toothpaste takes time that I don't have.  With the advent of shows like "Extreme Couponing" everyone seems to view couponing as a full time job or nothing at all.  But there is another way.  I like to call it "Non-Extreme Couponing" or "Couponing for the Rest of Us."  Perhaps you already have a job.  Or maybe you have children and a house to clean and stuff like that.  There is hope for you.  And me.

Yesterday I went to the grocery store and I walked out paying $55.  Here's what I bought:

3 bottles of Garnier Fructis Shampoo
1 bottle of Garnier Fructis Conditioner
3 boxes of Kellogg's Caramel Nut Cereal
2 gallons of milk
1 gallon of Sunny D
1 package of 45 strong paper plates
1 package of 6 paper towel rolls
1 bunch of bananas
1 bag of apples
1 cucumber
1 bunch of celery
1 bag of Hearts of Romaine
1 can of asparagus tips
2 cans of sloppy joe sauce
1 package of hamburger buns
1.5 lbs of course ground beef
3 bags of Birds Eye Frozen Vegetables
4 boxes of Idaho Spuds potato gems
2 cans of Wilderness Cherry Pie Filling
2 cans of Wilderness Apple Pie Filling
2 frozen pie crusts
4 Oscar Meyer Lunchables
1 LARGE 2lb.10oz. container of Old Fashioned Oats
8 - 1 liter bottles of Powerade
4 - 5 ct. Alegra 24 Hr. Allergy Relief

Now this is far and away not my "best" shopping trip ever.  This is just an average shopping trip.  It contains lots of items that I had no coupons for and which were not on sale.  And yet I still managed to pay less than 40% of what the groceries were worth.  How did I do it?  That will be the subject of the next page that I am adding to the blog..."Non-Extreme Couponing."  I will be working on it over the next few weeks and plan on having it completed in May.

DIY in My Daughter's Room

I should have taken "before" photos.  I should have taken "before" photos.  I should have taken "before" photos.  There.  Now I have drilled it into my brain and I will never forget again.  Let's hope not anyway.  I guess I just get so caught up in actually living life that I forget sometimes that I am going to blog about life later.

So my husband and I just recently re-did our daughter's room.  Vienna is two and a half and we decided that it was about time she moved out of the crib and into a toddler bed.  (I held out as long as I could.  She is my baby.)  My husband took a hand-me-down toddler bed that wasn't all that great to begin with (it was a WalMart special) and completely transformed it with a coat of ivory paint.  We then painted an old oak dresser (a cast off from a 10 year old spare bedroom set) the same ivory color, accenting the drawers in pink and blue and adding new porcelain pulls.  My son had a toy storage rack that I had bought for him from IKEA about 5 years ago that he donated to his sister, so Steve painted that ivory as well and then painted the interior in the same pink and blue accent colors.  The whole ensemble turned out really great and it only cost us about $10 in paint and $15 in new pulls for the drawers.

Here is a photo of the completed dresser:

Just goes to show you that a little "re-imagination" can go a long way.  My next project is to create a great accent wall for her room for under $100.  I will post pics when it is done.

Frozen Yogurt Pops (and Baby Steps to Healthier Eating)

Like many moms, I avidly read through the Pinterest tales of moms who no longer server their families any processed food products.  I ooh and ahh over the bread that they make from scratch.  I ogle the photos of neatly laid out Bento boxes full of healthy school lunches...each one packed with a loving note from mom.  These women are super heroes.  And I say that with genuine admiration and no bitterness what-so-ever.  OK...only the tiniest hint of bitterness.

But it HAS gotten me thinking.  My family does consume a lot of pre-packaged, over processed foods.  Certainly more than I would like.  This is due, primarily, to two factors:  1.  I am a couponer, and processed foods go on sale with coupons more often than healthy foods.  So I buy them because I have two boys who eat more food in a day then I do in a week.  And cheap food keeps me from having to live in a cardboard box.  2.  My boys are often desirous of a snack at a time that I am not available to fix them a lovely, healthy snack.  So I get stuff for them that is quick and easy and that they can serve themselves.

So what hope is there for me... the budget conscious, full time working, over taxed mother?  Well...there's got to be SOMETHING I can do.  So, I have adopted a strategy that works well for me in other areas of my life...the baby step approach.  I am trying to change our eating habits in baby steps...one thing at a time.  It doesn't seem nearly so daunting that way.

So far, I've done two things.  1. I've replaced the bread I normally buy at the store (which was already 100% wheat...but was very processed and full of preservatives) with bread purchased weekly at our local Great Harvest Bread Co.  Now, their bread is EXPENSIVE...which rubs the coupon queen in me the wrong way.  However, I have made the point to purchase only day old or two day old bread.  This saves me 25% or 50% respectively and brings my total extra expenditure on bread to only about $10 per month.  I can handle that.  And with a bread clip placed tightly at the neck, the bread still lasts a week or more.

2. I've started making yogurt pops on Saturdays.  They are incredibly simple to make and my boys love them for snacks.  I was inspired to do this after I bought my Popsicle molds at IKEA.  If you don't already have some, CLICK HERE to get the great IKEA version for $1.99!  Last Saturday, my 2 year old and I assembled the pops.  2 blueberries on the bottom, spoonful of fruit yogurt, 2 blueberries, another spoonful, etc.  We had a great time, and the results were delicious.  One thing that I might change next time...the blueberries are quite tart, and yogurt is already tart (especially when frozen.)  So I'm thinking of macerating the blueberries for a while in simple syrup next time before I drop them in the pops.  I know, I know...more sugar.  But still homemade and you gotta make it taste great right?

I will begin compiling my simple steps as a sidebar to the blog.  Happy eating!

Another Quote I Love: And More Fonts I Love

I love great, inspirational quotes.  I also love great, free fonts.  So I find myself in spare moments of time stolen from the work that I should be getting done, taking inspirational or family quotes that I love and typing them out in free fonts that I love.  So here you have it.

If you would like a larger version of the quote you can CLICK HERE.

If you would like to download the free fonts for use in your own projects...they are called Homestead and Carton.  And you can click on each below to download:

Homestead Font FREE

Carton Font FREE