County assessors......

Well today is the big day.  The DH was afraid we were not being taxed appropriately so he's called the county assessors to come out and measure the house. So we have been scrambling to get stuff picked up since we tend to let the wind do what it will with stuff we leave outside. Over the winter even more stuff gets blown around and well generally it is pretty bad out there.  The assessor arrived and it turns out they had to measure every out building as well as the house. The good news is that we don't get taxed on it for another 18 months or so. Even then it will be at 80% of the assessed value.

I can hear the little ones up stairs fussing at each other, but there isn't any blood curdling screams yet so I will stay at the kitchen table.....and wait. Maybe I will go hang the last of the laundry. Well at least what is done for today. It feels so good to have weather that allows line drying again! My electric bill will appreciate the break!


Each spring and fall the JBF sale happens in our community... well in town that is. I do try to go when it happens as it is a good place to pick up clothing, educational items from other homeschool families and larger equipment that you might need raising kids.  My daughter did take some items one year to sell but in the end decided it was not worth the time and energy for what she received in payment. It is a great place to buy though! So today two of my older daughters are going to go to this sale to see what they can find. I just put a ham in the oven to warm and the three year old is down for a nap. The five year old is playing with baby dolls so I have a few minutes to blog.

Well good news from the JBF sale they have some good baby alive stuff there..just in time for birthdays!  It has been a long road for the five year old to start playing with age level things. It is good to see.

She found quite a few good buys on homeschooling materials too! So she is going to pick them up for me yay!

Part of my plan to cut down waste is to use up what we have on hand. I like to think I am consistent this..but the ugly truth is I waste a lot of food! One of the things that tends to go to waste is heavy whipping cream. I buy the half gallon carton from Costco. I do use it for several things, whipped cream of course, home churned butter, half and half, and cooking. Yet there is almost some that doesn't get used...in the past I have just fed it to the chickens. This in a way is not waste..but as for human consumption it is. I have also frozen dollops for dessert toppings. However even those don't always get used. So today...well actually yesterday I put some whipped cream into a disposable decorator bag from my cake decorating supplies and froze it. This will give me some whipped cream for breakfast toppings on those days when we need them and maybe even use all the cream for

the humans!

I was also running low on taco seasoning so I took 15 minutes to make a batch of that.

Here is a picture before I blended it. I wanted to try a freezer meal recipe that I saw on blissful and domestic http://www.blissfulanddomestic.com/ you can find her blog here just look up freezer meals in March to find her recipe for sweet salsa chicken. It was very good in my opinion.  My two little ones tried it one liked it, the other not so much. My youngest adult son was not a fan but only because he doesn't like sweet then spicy foods...lol it catches you by surprise for sure! Definitely worth a try in my book! Like I said I was out of seasoning so I made some up and now I am ready for other meals too.  Check out her web site she has lots of great ideas and recipes!

Well I have to go time to make ham, egg and cheese croissants for the upcoming week!