Too Many Eggs

We have 9 laying hens.  They are laying an average of 6 eggs a day and we aren't keeping up.  So I made this.

My Betty Crocker cookbook had a recipe for an orange chiffon cake that took 7 seperated eggs, but I didn't have any oranges to peel or squeeze, so I went for the chocolate chip variation.  But instead of using grated chocolate, I used chocolate chips...they sank, but now I don't need to glaze it.  Besides that it turned out pretty good.  Might just be beginner's luck.  I'm impressed that it is still moist though, and I made it on Thursday and have been storing it in my cake dome.

We've been eating lots of fried eggs and french toast, and I should make some quiche.  Still, I have about 7 dozen right now.  Anybody have any suggestions for what to do with so many eggs?

The Box

So, you've probably done this with a cereal box already, but I didn't have any decorative paper...so I turned it inside out after I cut the trapezoid (?) out and cut top tabs off, and hot glued it back together.

But I could still see the label on the tall inside part, so I hot glued the trapezoid to the inside and trimmed the top edges.  Now when it is filled it doesn't look like a cereal box, and besides the hot glue I only used things I would have thrown away anyway.

My husband claimed this one for his magazines, so...they aren't laying all over the floor anymore.  Yea!!

Water Table

I was hanging laundry the other day...in my trees.  My husband welded us some clothes line poles, but hasn't set them in the ground yet.  Last time he washed his hunting clothes though, he wanted to hang them to dry so he tied rope in the tree.  I was embarrassed for a while, but it does seem like a good place to hang clothes as it is almost always shaded and it is usually enough space for most of a load.

My girls played on the porch while they waited on me.  Here's what they did.

So dramatic, and story tellers too.  I think we have a small acting troupe.

This was actually the first picture I took.  Look like a neat camera trick?  Actually, it was so humid and hot that my lens fogged up.

So Little Time

I'm overwhelmed by all the information there is on the internet.  I wasted all of nap time looking at a bunch of stuff I won't remember, and probably won't use!

Play Purse: Tutorial

My one year old has been toting around her sister's purses.  I thought it might be nice for her to have her own purse, but we don't need anymore toys at our house.  So I decided to make her one our of these.

I stuck the sleeves inside each other with the shirt inside out (see the shoulder seam).  I would have just cut a piece of the end, but there was a pocket on the sleeve that I wanted to incorporate, so I cut a section out of the upper sleeve.

You can see both layers here.

With right sides of the layers together, sew straight across the bottom.

Pull layers away from each other.

Pin ribbon inside layers and stitch all the way across each top section.  I used a knit shirt so there won't be any unraveling from unfinished edges.  If you use a different kind of material, you will want to finish the edges by turning them to the inside, or zigzagging, or fray check, etc.  Also, I heat sealed the ends of my ribbons so they wouldn't fray from the insides and pull out after a bout of tugging.

I chose to apply an iron on Velcro, but even if you choose to sew some in, this is a good opportunity.

Oops, I forgot a step!  After you attach the velcro, pin sides together right sides together and sew up the 2 sides.

Ta da!

Hmm...so she didn't like it as much as I thought she would.  Glad I didn't take the time to do a professional job on it, or spend a lot of money.

Ahh, the sweet girl is humoring her mommy.

Granola

I've been making some homemade granola.  I'm saving packaging and trips to the store, and of course it saves money too (yea).

My prices:
Brown Sugar 2lbs $1.49
Syrup 27oz $2.98
Oil 96 T $2.69          
Oats 15 C $1.99     
Raisins 3 C $1.69        

With my recipe that comes to $1.12 for a 6 serving batch.  As opposed to $3.27 for an 8 serving package.

• Mix 1/4 C packed brown sugar, 3 1/2 C Oats, and 1/4 t salt.
• Mix 2 T vegetable oil (I use canola) and 1/4 C syrup.
• Combine mixtures, spread on lightly greased cookie sheet, bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through.
• After cooled,  put in airtight container with 1/2 C raisins.

We use it so fast that I double the recipe and store in an empty oatmeal container, and we still use it up before it gets stale.

Cutting for Preschoolers: Tutorial

I've been doing some at-home preschool with my 3 year old over the summer.  She loves to cut out, but I've found that pictures that don't have dotted lines are a little tricky for her to just cut around the outside.  See poor baby Moses basket was in three pieces before we glued it on the water.  Not a big deal, but I didn't want to have to recapitate baby Moses, so I came up with a technique to make "where to cut" a little less fuzzy.

We'll use Phil as an example because he was on a piece of scratch paper I had.  He appears a little concerned though doesn't he?

I could see Phil a little better than you can in this picture, but I did find that it was easier to see through the paper if I put it on a light colored surface as opposed to a dark one like wood.

I traced around the picture where I wanted it cut out with a marker.  While your tracing, you can smooth over any sharp corners that you think might be a problem.

Voile! Had it to your preschooler, and tell them to cut on the "purple" line on the back of the paper.  That's what we did with baby Moses, and a you can see, my preschooler is pretty good at cutting.