The King of Bartering

Though you wouldn't know it to look at him, my husband is the king of bartering.  If he wants to, he can do it anywhere at anytime.  In fact, he is even capable of bartering at Wal-Mart.
This past weekend we stopped in at Wal-Mart for a couple of items one of which was a new filter for our AC unit.  It took us awhile, but we finally found the right size and it was the last one left.  Not only was it the last one, but there was no price over it.  Oh well, we thought, the price doesn't really matter as we need it so we'll just have to bite the bullet and pay whatever they charge.  Up at the front, we headed towards the self-check out as the line was significantly shorter and we only had 2 items.  First, I scanned my garbanzo beans. Next I picked up the filter.  I looked on the front, the back and all four sides but there was no barcode.  I passed it to Aaron and he couldn't find one either.  Finally, we called over the attendant and told her of our predicament.  She looked over the filter and couldn't find the barcode.  "Do you know the price?" she asked.   I truthfully answered, "No, but the filter next to it cost $7.88."  Aaron piped up, "We'll give you $7 for it."  The attendant silently turned to the register computer and started typing in "filter."  I assumed that she was going to look up the item in the computer system.  Next she typed in "$7.00."  She handed us back the filter and silently walked away.  And that, my friends, is how you barter at Wal-Mart.

Of Growing Things

I love growing things.  Well, let me say that I love growing things that I can use.  I'm all about efficiency.  If you can't eat it or cut it and use it as a centerpiece, it doesn't really belong at my house.  I think that growing my own garden is my way of personally stickin' to the man.  What man?  Oh, you know, the man.  Here are some pictures of my "garden" as of this morning.  Hopefully we'll have some big changes to show off soon so consider these the "before" pictures.

These beautiful geraniums were given to me by my mother-in-law.  I love her.  I especially love her when she gives me plants. 

Remember these flowers from last year?  They came back!  I love cutting a fresh bouquet every week for our table. 

2 Blueberry bushes.  I love them so much.  And I love you too, tomato plant. 

Gah!  So cute.  This is my new cucumber plant.  I only planted him about a week ago.  

Can squash really grow in a broken picnic basket?  Check back in a month or two for the answer. 

Random pansies, a handful of sweet peas (so far I've been able to pick 5 wonderful peas), and my parsley that regrew from last year. 

Tomato plant!  I grew this from a seed.  Makes me super proud.

Little Smartie Pants

So along with being utterly adorable, my daughter is also getting smart.  She is starting to understand language! She waves goodbye when I tell her too..mostly and does the sign for eat at mealtimes.  She will also repeat sounds back to me such as dog, duck, ball, bear, and mama.
And in case that wasn't enough, she has also learned how to read.  Here is the proof:

Pillows, Smillows

Today, I made pillowcases.  Two to be exact.  The first was a Christmas pillowcase.

As you can see, there are actually two Christmas pillowcases.  I made one over a month ago and finally got around to completing the second today.  I also have a third but it is no where near being done.  I saw this great tutorial online for pillowcases and got inspired. While the lady claims that it only takes 15 minutes to make, it took me closer to 30 if I include the time spent cutting and looking at the directions.  Super quick and super easy!  These are to go in our future advent calendar.  I feel on top of things especially considering the fact that Kira won't even use a pillow for over a year.   

*I followed the exact dimensions for the first pillowcase I thought it turned out too long.  The second one I shortened by about an inch or so and it looks great!

The other pillowcase I made was from an old shirt.  I had an old beat up dress shirt and I had a falling apart pillow.  When I saw this tutorial, an explosion of creativity went off in my mind.  Wow. Can you tell it is getting late at night? 

I wish I had used a darker colored shirt but I didn't think Aaron would appreciate me cutting up his nice work dress shirts.  

Finally, here is a freebie. I made both of these bedraggled looking pillowcases a long time ago.  I originally got all three of these pillows on super clearance for around $2-3 a piece.  I see more pillowcases in my near future.  

Life Update

Kira is having her first ever sick day.  She is running her first ever fever though it seems stuck at 99.7 for which I am grateful.  She is just like her daddy and wants to spend her sick day hibernating in her bed.  She is playing with her toy and "talking" for the first time today right now as we speak.  You know your baby isn't feeling well when she almost falls asleep in your arms and cries in the bath.

It is ok to have bad hair when your sick

In other news, I made this amazing turkey chili with sweet potato shepherd's pie topper.   It was so good that I immediately started planning out the next time I could make it.  I did use half of the meat and more veggies.  It actually turned out to be an orange dinner.  I always accidentally make our dinner all one color.  For instance we've had the green dinner (broccoli with pesto panninis), the whitey-yellowy dinners (you know, chicken, potatoes, etc) and this was the orange dinner.  We had cantaloupe that needed to be used up and then the sweet potato topper, with the orangish colored chili beneath, in the chili I threw an orange bell pepper and some carrots and of course it was topped with delish cheddar cheese.

Finally, I tried to make Aaron some spicy mango fruit leather.  It turned out much more like spicy mango fruit brittle.  I guess I'll just have to try again.
That about sums up my life.

Oh, and this Friday is my last week of teaching!