Pickles, pickles and more pickles...

Ok, so they are not really pickles! Our two cucumber plants have been producing like CRAZY!! Last week we picked over a dozen nice, big slicing cucumbers. Over the weekend we were gone. When we went to check the garden this morning, we found TEN huge cucumbers. The vines were a bit dry, so hopefully these taste as good as the others. I'm waiting until the heat goes down a bit this evening to water them.

When I told the girls there were too many to carry, Rory retrieved the doll stroller from the shed. Not what I would have thought of, but it worked perfectly!

Happy Birthday Westin!!

Our friend Westin turned 7 years old on Friday, July 25th!

We were in Cedar Falls to help Grandma Julie & Papa Mark work on their house, so we got to help Westin celebrate. Since Rory's birthday is also coming up, we went to Chuck E Cheese in the afternoon with Westin, Alayna, their mom (& my best friend) Sara, & their Gramma Connie. Chris & Grandma Julie also joined us. I didn't take any pictures there (only because I was too busy "visiting" with Sara, Gramma Connie & Grandma Julie). Chris was pretty much in charge of the games and stuff. Here is the only evidence I have that we were, indeed, at Chuck E Cheese:

Rory & Soren used their tickets from the games they played (Westin & Alayna generously donated their own tickets, too) to choose various high-quality pieces of plastic from the Chuck E Cheese prize counter. They each chose one of these wonderful funny face masks. Just to be clear, the tongue in the picture is Rory's own tongue, it was not included with the mask!

Later that night, we went miniature golfing to celebrate Westin's birthday. There were 11 of us in all, so we split into two groups. Papa Mark even went - which is a birthday miracle in itself! The little girls had some interesting strategies to the ball in the hole! Westin was very patient with Soren's antics. Here they are posing together:

Afterward we went to Westin & Alayna's for cake and ice cream. Their mom, Sara, made an awesome iPod cake. (I have visions of what Rory's upcoming birthday cake is going to look like, but I'm not sure I'll do as well as Sara did on the iPod cake!)

Alayna, Rory, Westin & Soren

Maricle Mom presents....

Superheros in Training!!

These are the greatest pictures we've taken all summer. I JUST LOVE THEM!!

All they need now are capes, gloves, and some wings!

Just for the record, the girls have been super-impressed with a few things I've accomplished lately. Here's a short list:

* Saved a "ruined" Baby Alive diaper with some scotch tape.

* Concocted a wonderfully yummy treat consisting of tortillas, PB, bananas & chocolate chips. (And when I tasted it, I wondered what was so great about it.)

* Produced a box of graham crackers from the cupboard & a can of chocolate frosting from the fridge for simultaneous consumption.

And of course when they ask with awe-inspired curiosity, "How did you do that?!?", I reply:

Because, I'm MARICLE MOM!!

(And Rory replies, very deadpan, non-enthusiastically, "Oh, right, I forgot. You've got that picture on the computer.")

My silly girls...

The girls have been digging out some toys (and other things) they haven't played with in a while. Its been nice...they've been entertained & really, so have I!

First, they found the basket

where I've stashed every necklace, bracelet,

hair clip, etc., etc. for the last 6 months.

And they decided to put all of them on at once.

And Soren dug into the small box of winter

accessories I haven't gotten put away yet

(I DO realize it is July!), and tried on my hat.

The greatest was when they got out the

Baby Alives (plural- we have two: one

that cries and one that doesn't).

Rory had the one that cries, and every time she

took the bottle out of its mouth it would cry or whine.

"Jeez!" she said, "Why does it whine and cry all the time?!"

Although I had a great, seasoned-mom kind of comeback ready, I simply said, "That's what babies do."

Won't October be interesting?

More great deals!!

Now that I'm a stay-at-home-mom, I'm trying to be more creative in how I spend money. (In place of the word "creative" you could insert any of the following: frugal, resourceful, cheap. It's OK. I won't be offended.)

On my latest CVS trip, I got some great stuff. Here's the breakdown:

Transaction #1:

(4) 12-packs of Pepsi - $11 (regular price 4.79 each)
(2) Colgate Advance toothpaste - $6.98 (reg. 4.39 each)

Total - $17.98 + dep. for pop ($2.40) = 20.38

Then I used these coupons:

(1) $1/1 Cogate Advanced
(1) $1.50/1 Cogate Advanced
(1) $3/$15 CVS purchase
(1) $3.99/1 Colgate (B1G1 in store)
(1) $3 ECB

Total Out of Pocket (OOP) = 7.89
+ I got $3 ECB back, making it 4.89

Transaction #2:

Clean & Clear Acne Patch - 8.99 (reg. 9.99)
Clean & Clear Daily Cleanser - 4.69 (reg. 5.69)
Clean & Clear Oil Absorbing Cloths - 3.99 (reg. 4.99)

Total -17.67

Then I used these coupons:
(3) $2/1 Clean & Clear
$3/$15 CVS purchase
$3 ECB

Total OOP = $5.67
+ I got $5 ECB back, making it $.67!!

On my second CVS trip EVER, I got $51.01 worth of stuff for $5.56!!

I also just happened upon some great deals at Walgreens, when I just stopped in to drop off a camera for developing:

(2) boxes Kashi cereal - 2/$5 (reg. 4.49 each)

(4) 80 pg. composition books - .05 each = .20 (reg. 2/$1)

(3) pkg. mechanical pencils - .05 each = .15 (reg. 2/$3)

Crayola washable markers - 2.00 (reg. 4.39)

Total = 7.35

Then I used these coupons:

(2) $2/1 Kashi product

Total OOP = 3.35

Plus there is a $2 Easy Saver Rebate for the markers,

making it 1.35!

By accident I got $19.87 worth of GREAT stuff for $1.35!!

Redbook Magazine...making me feel old, but hopeful

I got my new Redbook magazine the other day.
I know, its a very "Mom" thing to read. But hey, its interesting....



A couple of new things I learned, that also made me feel old:
1) Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick are celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary this year. It seems it was just yesterday we were watching Kevin dancing on that bridge in Footloose. Oh, those were the days!

2) As if the anniversary were not enough, Kevin is turning 50 this year. See above comment regarding dancing on the bridge.

3) Kevin and Kyra have a daughter named Sosie. So now I can technically be included in a game of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon! "Kevin Bacon and Holle Maricle both have daughters named Sosi." And if you're my friend, that just makes you all-the-closer to Kevin in the game.

Something I learned that made me feel hopeful:

1) Redbook has these awesome "free-stuff" giveaways every month. Visit www.redbookmag.com/winit to enter. Apparently you can only enter for each thing once a month, but they put new stuff on there every few days. So far I've entered to win five different spa vacations (and I get to bring a friend!), a pink cell phone, a baby sling (how did they know I was pregnant?), and some kind of neato razor.

Here's a list of give-aways for August. They are only available certain days, so you have to be on your toes to catch the ones you want.
* A 3-day, 2-night trip to New York City ($2500 value)
* 6 very expensive clutch purses ( each valued at $275- can you say Ebay?)
* 50 Jostens memory books ($45 value each)
* 50 "Smile Health 101" Crest dental packages (worth $40 each)
* 3 Olympus cameras, plus $320 gift certificate to myphotoalbum.com ($620 value per set)
* 15 Yoga prize packs (worth $130 each)
* 10 T'Fivve anti-aging sets (it looks like some sort of cream & a spray, although I've never heard of it myself) ($304 value per set)
* A techbargains.com set including: an iPod, a Sony HDTV, and a portable GPS (value $1623)

My first trip to CVS

If you haven't visited Money Saving Mom (http://www.moneysavingmom.com/), and are interested in saving some money, you should check it out. I can't remember how I came about it, but she posts great deals you can get if you watch for sales and use your coupons.

I signed up for a CVS Extra Care card, because supposedly you can get a lot of useful things for free or nearly-free, if you play it right. Yesterday, after plotting my attack, I went to CVS to check my success.

Here's what I bought:

Transaction #1:

(6) Herbal Essence Shampoo/Conditioners - 15.00

(2) Sally Hansen Nail Polish - 1.98

(2) Colgate toothpaste - 5.58

(1) Excedrin Back & Body - 4.79

(1) Excedrin PM - 5.29

(1) Maalox chewables - 6.49

(1) Excedrin Tension Headache - 10.79

TOTAL = 49.92

Then I used these coupons-

$3/2 Sally Hansen (reduced to 1.98)

(2) $2/1 Excedrin

$2/1 Maalox

(3) $3/2 Herbal Essence

(1) $2.79/1 Colgate (was B1G1 in store)

$4/$20 CVS purchase

After coupons, my out-of-pocket total was 26.15 + tax.

I got $10 Extra Care Bucks (ECB) to use on a future purchase, plus I have a rebate for one of the Excedrin for $4.79. Transaction #1 cost me $11.36 after ECB's and the rebate.

Transaction #2:

(2) 6x8 Kodak hardcover photo books - 15.98

(1) 4x6 Kodak hardcover photo book - 3.99

(2) Softsoap body wash - 8.98

TOTAL = 28.95

Then I used these coupons-

(2) .75/1 Softsoap

(1) 4.49/1 Softsoap (B1G1 in store)

$3/$15 CVS purchase

After coupons, my out-of-pocket total was 19.96 + tax.

I got $19.97 in ECB's to use on a future purchase. Transaction #2 cost me NOTHING!

On my first visit to CVS, I got $78.87 worth of useful items for $11.35 + tax!!

Adventures in the kitchen...

Since I've been home from work, the girls and I have spent a lot of time in the kitchen together.
I have enjoyed finding jobs for them to do (really, I have!), and they have really enjoyed doing them.

Some of their new responsibilities include:

* washing grapes and picking them off the stem on shopping day (per Rachel Ray's instructions), * unloading the dishwasher (Soren handles the kid dishes, Rory handles everything else that's not sharp),
* various stirring, adding, mixing, & cleaning up tasks while we cook something yummy,
* and of course, LICKING THE BOWL!!!


Here they are, honing their kitchen skills:





One of our new favorite things to make is Crock Pot Banana Bread. I generally make banana bread pretty often, and everyone at our house loves it. BUT, my own personal kryptonite is any sort of excess HEAT (I know at times it appears my kryptonite is the cold, but I like to keep you guessing!), so turning on the oven in July is not happening! I was so excited to find this recipe and try it out. It tasted really good, but got a bit dry around the edges. Now that I think about it, I think every banana bread I've ever made is a bit dry around the edges. Might have to work on that....

Here's the recipe:

Crock Pot Banana Bread

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup chopped pecans (I did not put these in)

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

4 small, ripe bananas, mashed

2 Tbs. + 2 tsp. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

*Turn crock pot on high. Grease and flour the insert. (I wasn't sure if you were supposed to turn it on high with the insert in or out. I just sprayed the insert with nonstick spray, and let it "preheat" while I mixed everything up.)

*Mix flour, soda, and salt in medium bowl. Add nuts and set aside. In another bowl, cream butter with sugar. Add eggs, one at a time. Add milk and vanilla. Mix completely. Stir in bananas until well mixed. Gradually add flour mixture. Stir until just combined.

*Place insert in crockpot. (If you recall, I did this at the beginning- it worked fine- just a tiny sizzle when I poured the batter in!)

Carefully add batter. Cover with lid. Bake 2-3 hours until done. (Ours was done after 2 hours and 15 minutes.)

*It is VERY IMPORTANT that you do NOT remove the lid during the first 2 hours of cooking!!

Our summer so far...

I'm sure you can see there has been a bit of a lag (more than a month, actually) since the dramatic return of Maricle Mom in May, and any sort of posting about what's been going on around here.

I'll give you a quick rundown to get you caught up.

In June, we planted our gardens for the summer. We have 6 tomato plants, 2 cucumber plants, and some radishes in "Mom's gardens," PLUS the girls planted a fun Pizza Garden. Apparently a Pizza Garden is supposed to contain veggies and herbs that you could use at harvest time to make pizza and sauce, and its supposed to be in the shape of a pizza with everything planted in its own "wedge" of dirt. Even with my supermom powers, I could not really make the pizza shape work out, so ours is a square, divided by bricks into 4 smaller squares. Didn't we used to call that "party pizza"?

As a family, we simply are not that adventurous when it comes to food and edibles, so our pizza garden consists of the basics:

* 2 roma tomato plants (each in their own square)
* oregano, rosemary, and cliantro

* basil and dill

Here's what it looked like when we were done. The girls are very proud!!

It seems that the best growing in the bunch are the basil, dill and tomatoes. I have 4 ziploc bags of basil in my fridge that I'm not sure what to do with. I'll have to find a recipe for something.

The rosemary died pretty soon after we planted it, but I don't think you really put rosemary in pizza sauce anyway.

Later in June, the girls got a "new" bedroom. Chris and Grandma Julie painted our spare room, what else, pink! Grandma got them a new rug, and we all painted a dresser and small chest from my Grandma Carol's house. The highlight of it all was the new white bunkbeds. They are enjoying their new room, and learning to go to sleep at night without too much chit chat. It looks like this:

At the end of June, we went to Adventureland with the extended Maricle clan. The day was nice and cool. Rory's favorite ride was the Outlaw roller coaster, and Soren loved the Frog Hopper!

July, of course, brought the 4th and then swimming lessons. Still no fireworks for us!