Cheaper Than Therapy holds
A Thousand Word Thursday each week. Go
visit to check out other pictures! Michelle over at
Psalm 104:24 hosts Three Things This Thursday. I like to do them together. Randomness and pictures.
1. The girls are fighting like nobody's business. It started on the trip up north and has continued to a point where I would just like summer to be over to get a little peace and quiet. Easy for me to say....I don't have anything to go back to. SOOOO...instead of screaming like a mad women telling them to stop screaming at each other, I have implemented "banishment" (some call it time out but I would like to think that my kids are too old for that). Emma in the nursery (Scarlett still refuses to use her crib - at least the nursery should get used for something) and Lexi in the bathroom (we do have little stools in there so she doesn't have to sit on the potty). I am done giving warnings. I am done listening to even a little bit of bickering, name calling, biting, or rock throwing (yes, this morning Lexi was just about to launch a rock at her sister). Say a little prayer. If this doesn't work I might find myself locking myself in my own bathroom. For the rest of the summer.
2. Scarlett learned how to walk while we were in MN! It is completely because of the grass. She played in the grass a ton everyday and was walking before we knew it. She doesn't wear shoes so that would be a problem down here. FL Grass = Yuck! If you are from Florida you know that our grass is not worthy of walking in barefooted. If you are from the north please thank God each day for the soft, plush grass that you can actually lie down or walk in without fear of being attacked by a fire ant. Seriously. That junk hurts.
3. Whenever I come back from MN I am all inspired to garden. There's something about the short span of time you have without snow that makes everyone want to grow things. The flowers in everyone's yards are so nice. By much trial and error I have found that gardening down here is best done in the fall and winter. So this week it's my goal to get all of my seedlings started. I plan to do tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, swiss chard, and spinach. My dad gave me a bunch of flower seeds that I want to get planted as well. I also need to replace all of my herbs that perished while we were gone.
Making butter is just too easy - and fun! When we were up at my parent's house (with all the cousins as well) Gramma B gave each of them a pint canning jar (any jar would be fine) half filled with heavy cream. Their mission: to shake it until it was butter. I thought they would do it for a few minutes and get bored but they surprised me. Even the baby pitched in. It took about 10 minutes, maybe less. It turned to whipped cream, then cottage cheezy like, then a big ball of butter with thin buttermilk around it. When it was complete we drained the buttermilk, added a little salt and then patted the extra buttermilk out of it (the adults did this). To pat it you put it in a bowl and run a spoon on it's surface from side to side. Little droplets of buttermilk will surface. Drain this off. The butter will be a little soft but will harder if you refrigerate it. If you haven't done this yet, it's a must! 
