happily random

Trip Down Memory Lane

We spent this past weekend cleaning out our attic as we plan to have a massive garage sale in the coming weeks to purge 15+ years of accumulated junk. As I was carrying boxes out, I came across one that had loads of my old keepsakes from high school and college. I'm sure everyone has one. It's just a bunch of old reminders of your life-that-was that don't really serve any purpose but nonetheless make you smile when you come across them.

While digging through this box of forgotten treasures, I came across a stack of these publicity fliers that I forgot that I kept. When I was in college, I traveled with a public relations group from my college, Southern Nazarene University, called Heartsong. It was a ladies singing trio with accompanist that sang mostly Christian Contemporary and Gospel Music. My first year with the group it was Meredith, Misty, Monica and me (pictured left) and my second year it was Heather, Holly, Anne and me. We traveled in our red school Suburban throughout our educational region -- Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas -- on weekends, singing at churches during Sunday services and giving out information about the college. During the summer we also led worship at teen summer camps. Not only was it a lot of fun, but it also paid my way through college.

I'll definitely be tucking that poster back into that box so I can come across it again in a few years.

Bon Voyage, Rebekah

After 9 months of fundraising and planning, Rebekah finally left for her Tale of Two Cities trip to England and France today with People to People Ambassador Programs. Even though the 5,000 miles between us is a little anxiety-inducing, for the most part I'm just very, very excited for her. She's going to be visiting places that I've never been and have only dreamed of visiting. Not only that, but I can see this expanding her view of the world and helping her realize that there is more out there than just our small North Idaho home. 

Lots of people have asked, so I thought I would post a few of the things she will be doing while she is there. Honestly, they are so busy that she will have very little time for homesickness! I am certainly more than a little envious of her itenerary. 

England:

• JFK Memorial and the location of the signing of the Magna Carta
• British Museum
• London Eye
• Natural History Museum
• Shakespearean Theater Workshop
• Medievel Banquet with Henry VIII
• Tower of London
• Cruise of the River Thames
• Meeting with a Member of Parliament
• Covent Gardens
• Buckingham Palace
• Training to be a Medievel Soldier at Warwick Castle and Trebuchet Firing
• Stratford-upon-Avon, birthplace of Shakespeare
• Bath Hot Springs
• University of Oxford
• Stonehenge
• Overnight Ferry across the English Channel to France

France:

• Le Memorial de Caen Museum which covers WWII D-Day
• Normandy and the D-Day Landings
• Chateau de Versailles
• Tour Paris on Foot
• Arc de Triompe
• Eiffel Tower
• Musee du Louvre and the Mona Lisa
• Notre Dame Cathedral
• And last but not least.... Disneyland Paris

We have commissioned Rebekah to write about her day in her journal each night before going to bed, so we're hoping to live vicariously through her at least when she returns. While I miss her terribly, I hope she is has a fabulous trip and makes memories that will last a lifetime.

 

Summer Fun Day

Is there anything better after a busy day at the park than curling up in bed with a good book? 

Tuesday we spent all day doing laundry and getting our oldest ready for her international excursion. I explained to the kids, "Today is a boring day, but tomorrow will be a fun day." And so it was. 

When Regal Cinemas starting charging $1 for admission to their previously free summer kids' movies, I was a little miffed, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The once packed to the seams theater is no longer overflowing. Apparently $1 is just too much to ask. I figure the $5 I pay for the kids and me to get in is about what I would pay for a Double Chocolate Mocha from Dutch Bros. Pretty cheap entertainment for our largish family. We all enjoyed the seeing Despicable Me, which after seeing it several times still makes us all laugh.

Then it was on to free summer lunch at Post Falls High School. I love this lunch program as it makes my kids feel like they're getting to go out to lunch while not costing me a dime. Here are the schedules for Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene if you would like to take part. No need to sign up, just show up. Kids under 18 are free.

And what fun day would be complete without some time at the park? The kids didn't last long as the 85 degree temperature was deemed "too hot." That's North Idaho kids for you. Of course it's been about 50 degrees for months, so who could blame them?

We wrapped up our full day with a visit to the public library, bringing home books for all. After all the busyness, curling up for for some quiet time with a good book was a nice treat. And I may or may not have rested my eyes for a few minutes between pages.

Garage Sale? I'm there.

I am blessed with a dear friend who the queen of garage sales. She plans the route on Thursday night and I basically just follow her around town from sale to sale -- thanks Jo! While I can garage sale just fine on my own, I tend to find better stuff when I'm with her, maybe because she has the patience to pick through things more than I do and often says things like, "This looks like something Beka would wear." And of course, she has taught me the fine art of "making an offer."  If the tag says $2, offer them $1. The worst they can say is no and most people just want to get rid of this stuff and make a little money out of it. But mostly, Jo is just more fun to garage sale with than going by myself. Because of her, I can now say I love to go garage saling.

On my quest for deals today, I scored a huge bean bag chair for just $10. Our boys' room remodel has afforded us with a little more space and my boys requested a bean bag chair to relax in. Lo and behold at our first garage sale of the day this baby was sitting out just waiting for me to snatch it up. It's so heavy I can hardly pick it up and it took some serious squashing to get it inside the back of my Suburban as well as through the doors in my home. The first hour after I got it inside the kids spent trying to injure each other by launching their sitting siblings off the end by jumping on it. Good times.

On today's score list were several shirts for me, shorts and pants for my kids, a super-cute Kathy Van Zeeland purse as well as some empty frames that I am collecting for a project. Not to mention the kids bought themselves some toys here and there. A quarter is most certainly in their budget. 

There isn't much you can't find garage saling with a little patience. I'm completely hooked.

Roller Skating Chickens?

It seems a little hinky to order meat off the internet and pick it up in the parking lot of a roller skating rink, but that exactly how Zaycon Foods works. After reading through their website though, I decided it was worth a try. My first order they were offering 40 lbs of fresh boneless, skinless chicken breasts for just $1.64 a lb. For those who don't keep track of the price of chicken, the frozen 10-lb bags of Foster Farms chicken run about $1.99 a lb at CostCo. In our family of six -- seven if you include my sister who lives in my guest house and eats with us a few times a week -- we go through about 15 lbs of chicken breasts a month.

Our pick up was supposed to be on Saturday morning from 8-9 a.m., but our our shipment was delayed until Tuesday morning. They informed me by email of this the night before pickup, so I definitely suggest double checking your email before you head out to get your delivery. When I arrived at the pickup location, I didn't even have to get out of my truck. They loaded the big box of chicken in the back of my Suburban for me, even putting a sheet of plastic sheeting down under the box to protect against accidental spills.

When I arrived home with my haul, I quickly started to work on prepping all the chicken for freezing. The box came with four 10 lb bags full of chicken breasts. Some light trimming is necessary, but not much. I decided to take the time to get a head-start on dinner preparations as I bagged up the chicken for the deep freezer. Some of them I marinaded with Lawry's Marinades that I received to sample as a BzzAgent -- yummy and simple -- as well as preparing a couple of my own simple marinades, including this new one for Asian BBQ Chicken. Can't wait to give that a try! I grilled several chicken breasts and diced them for adding to enchiladas or soups. I even diced up 8 lbs of uncooked chicken breasts just to use in recipes where I need diced chicken for sauteing. The last 10 lbs I bagged up individually to pull out for various cooking needs.

Looking at the finished product, I'm extremely satisfied with the experience. While prepping all the chicken for the freezer took me about 2 1/2 hours, buying it fresh allowed me to prepare and marinade it before I froze it. In the long run it'll be a great time-saver in the evening!

I liked the experience so much, I'm already taking part in another event with Zaycon Foods, this time Hickory Smoked Bacon. While I don't need 30 lbs of bacon -- despite my husband's protests to the contrary -- I found a friend willing to split it with me. She's also ordering the German Sausages that are available. While I was wary of the whole process in the beginning, I think Zaycon Foods has found a loyal customer.

Follow-Up:

I ordered the bacon from Zaycon Foods last month and was not disappointed. I ended up splitting a 30 lb box with a friend, so I only got 15 lbs of bacon. I say "only" but "only 15 lbs" is an awful lot of bacon. We're set for awhile. Not only was it sliced to a perfect thickness -- not too thick and not super thin like I hate -- but the flavor is fabulous. Currently they are taking orders for ground beef, which I am seriously considering.

Summertime

The last couple of months of school, I always look forward to summer break with longing. Even though I do love the cold winters, by March I most certainly dream of warm sunshine, flip flops and sweet tea. I also look forward to a relaxed schedule, late mornings and falling out of our routine. Going to a private school, my kids get out for the summer a full two weeks before the public schools. Both the kids and I delight in not having to head back to school after Memorial Day, which will always mark the beginning of summer for me even if the temperature doesn't say so.