Stay at home mom wants income.

I love to be home with my kids.  I have been a stay at home mom for over a year now and I really do like it.  It has been a very hard transition for me, I am still not comfortable with having no money of my very own.  So, I have done a lot of thinking, reading and talking to people about ways a stay at home mom can make some money. 

First, I decided to take a couple of kids one day a week.  The kids are very close in age to my kids and they are very good.  So, not only do I make a little money of my own, but it also gives my kids something to look forward to.

The second thing I do is I work very part time at a local ski & snowboard resort.  I have to work around my husbands crazy work schedule.  He works very long hours in the Spring and Fall.  So it works well for me to work evenings and weekends in the Winter and Summer.  It may seem obvious that in the winter a ski & snowboard resort would be busy, but summer?  Yes, we cater weddings and other events.  It has turned out to be an excellent fit for our simple life.

Third, I have been making a few items to sell at craft fairs, etsy and have a website in the works.  I have been making baby shoes, play blankets, tutu's and bags.  I just recently partnered up with a local embroidery shop so that I can offer custom embroidery on my bags.  Sweet huh?  I purchased a business name.  I will be doing business under the name "B.H. Grace Designs".   I am nervous and yet oh so excited to get this company off the ground. 

Fourth- Who knew?  My husband had me order some books.  I have read through the small Extreme Coupons, and Free Stuff books.  After reading them, I ran to the gas station and bought 4 Sunday papers.  I clipped coupons until I fell asleep covered in news papers.  I went to Target.com and started printing out their coupons and then I ran out of ink.  Ofcourse I ran out of ink.  This is the kind of stumbling block that I have come to expect.  Everytime I get all excited about something and I take off like a motived runner- I always get tripped up by something.  It may have made me slow down this time, but I will buy more ink today.  I am even thinking about making myself the three ring binder with baseball card holders organizer for the coupons.  That would be so smart.  As a result of reading those books  I have also signed up to get paid for taking surveys.  We shall see how it goes.

It may seem like a lot of effort to make a few dollars.  To me, having my own money gives me some feeling of independence and self worth.  I am a grown woman and I don't want to have to ask my husband for money. 

Butternut squash soup

What's for supper?/ Freeze ahead Butternut squash soup

I made butternut squash soup for the first time. I don't like squash, but I thought I should gets some Vitamin A into my diet. I used Alton Browns Squash Soup recipe from foodnetwork.com. I wish I had a stick blender. That would have been really handy. I used a small blender and had to do my blending a little bit at a time. I was the only member of my family willing to taste it. I thought it was pretty good, but what do I know, I have never had butternut squash soup before. I took some to a friend who said it was the best she had ever had. I froze a couple cups to eat another time. The recipe is as follows:

3 to 3 1/2 pounds butternut squash, approximately 2, seeded and quartered
Unsalted butter, melted, for brushing
1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus 1 teaspoon
1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper, plus 1,2 teaspoon
3 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Directions
Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Place the quartered squash onto a half sheet pan, brush the flesh of the squash with a little butter and season with 1 tablespoon of the salt and 1 teaspoon of the white pepper. Place in the oven and roast for 30 to 35 minutes or until the flesh is soft and tender.

Scoop the flesh from the skin into a 6-quart pot. Add the broth, honey and ginger. Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer, approximately 7 to 8 minutes. Using a stick blender, puree the mixture until smooth*. Stir in the heavy cream and return to a low simmer. Season with the remaining salt, pepper and nutmeg.

*When blending hot liquids: Revove liquid from the heat and allow to cool for at least 5 minutes. Transfer liquid to a blender or food processor and fill it no more than halfway. If using a blender, release on corner of the lid. This prevents the vacuum effects that creates heat explosions. Place a towel over the top of the machine, pulse a few times then process on high speed until smooth.


Tonight we are having meatball subs. The meatballs were left over from Superbowl Sunday. I froze them in a ziplock container hoping for a quick yummy meal another night. Looks like tonight is that night.

Chicken Pot Pie Review

Tonight I made Ina Garten's Chicken pot pie. I found the recipe on Food Network.com. It was wonderful. I modified the recipe a little bit. I did one onion and one potato. I skipped the small onions and only did one cup of peas. My son, husband and I all give this recipe 5 stars. Yummy! My son asked if I would make it again on Sunday. If you are like me, good meal ideas but not so good planning... you will want bake and cube your chicken and cut up your veggies and prepare your dough ahead of time if possible. There is 35 min. to bake your chicken, dough needs to be refridgerated for 30 minutes and then 1 hour to bake the pies.

Vitamin A & my "What's for dinner" super save

Vitamin A is a fat soluble vitamin. It is made up of both preformed vitamin A (retinoids) and provitamin A (carotenoids). Retinoids are found in animal foods such as fish oil, eggs and butter. Carotenoids are found in plants such as deep yellow and orange veggies such as carrots and sweet potatoes. These veggies contain beta carotene which can be converted into Vitamin A in the body. This is a vitamin that needs to be consumed with caution. A deficiency could cause night blindness or Xerophthalmia. Toxic levels of Vitamin A in the body are usually found in individuals who are taking supplements rather than eatting large quantites of foods rich in Vitamin A or beta carotene. Vitamin A is essential for healthy epithelial cells and vision.

There is a lot of information on Vitamins- this is just a quick snap shot. If you have specific questions about Vitamin A- let's chat. I like to research specific topics so give me an assignment.

Okay- last night was suppose to be Paula Deans Chicken pot pie. As I was getting out all of my ingredients I realized that I had no raw eggs in the house. I had hard boiled all of them on Sunday- well, all but two of them but someone (Kevin) didn't know that the two eggs in the butter compartment of the refridgerator were raw and all of them in the egg compartment were hard boiled. So, I went to peal one for a salad and - you guessed it! It was raw. Kevin had moved the raw eggs to the egg compartment- no telling which was which. So, it is well beyond supper time by now and no pot pies...crying baby...husband shows up over an hour late (what's the big deal?) 5 year old needs a shower.... I have chicken breasts in the microwave. I chopped a yellow onion, heated olive oil in a pan, carmelized the onion, threw in some garlic and mushrooms. Three strips of bacon went onto a broiler pan and tossed into a 425 degree oven. Got the water on the stove. Time to get the 5 year old out of the shower and the baby into the highchair. Put the chicken breasts on the George Foreman, dumped some rotini into the boiling water. Gave the baby a few measuring cups and a couple bits of baby food. Microwaved some pizza sauce. Gave the baby a couple more bits. Grabbed some shredded cheese and parmasean cheese. Now for the fun... I have no clue what I have just made here. How am I going to put this together? So I just started layering, noodles, cheese, sauce, chicken, onion & mushrooms, bacon & more cheese. My picky 5 year old said it was the best tasting meal ever. Everyone was happy. I will get to the grocery store tonight or tomorrow and get some eggs so I can report to you about Paula Dean's pot pie.

Check back again tomorrow when I will reveal my next sewing project attempt, will it be wedding purses, an everyday purse for me or a quilt?

Back to blogging

It is time to start blogging for real. A lot has changed in our family since I have last blogged so here we go. In July 2011 we welcomed Hannah into our family. In October 2011 we moved to the country. We are now a larger family with a larger home and a much larger yard to run and play. I am happy to report that I have a sewing room in this house which is something that I have been wanting for awhile.

Now that the dust has settled from the move and I am a stay at home mom, I have decided that it is time to get started creating. I feel it is what I need to do. My blogs will be more regular and will consist of the following:

Hot Topics for those who want to chat.
Nutrition topics- vitamins and minerals- the basics
Food- What's for dinner (literally) and freezeable meals (by request)
God- as the Spirit moves me.
Product reviews (because I REALLY want to try stuff out & chat about it)
Sewing and crafts (I will include you in my crafting journeys- it will be a real trip!)
Parenting (at this time it will mostly be "Conversations with Cole" which are always interesting)
Diet & Exercise (I do this sometimes)

Check in with me tomorrow for a full review of Vitamin A and my review on What's for dinner tonight which will also drive the hot topic. Dinner tonight is Chicken Pot Pie Paula Dean style.

Little Cowboy

There were so many very cute little trick-or-treaters out this year. We participated a lot more this year than last. How much candy does a little boy need?

Halloween 2008

I did not get very many pictures. Cole got sick of pumpkin carving and decided that trying to undress was much more fun. I had no idea what he was doing because I was so focused on the pumpkin and its 3" thick walls! It took my almost an hour to carve a very unoriginal jack-o-lantern.