New toys

So my darling husband talked me into a travel travel AKA camper. I admit, it didn't take alot of talking. We used to have a motor home. For some of those misadventures, click here.

Anyway, I had secretly been thinking about a camper since we got our tax return but hadn't mentioned it to Bobby because if I give the man a bone, he runs with it. So about a week ago, he mentions he's been thinking about buying a camper because wouldn't it be fun to take the kids camping again while they are still young enough to enjoy it? So we talked a little, thought about the budget, then he took off running with his bone.

We found a used camper that we almost settled for. It had two bunks and slept 8, supposedly. I thought we had made up our minds but Bobby talked me into looking at a new camper. I was determined not to like it because it was almost twice as much as the used one. Unfortunately, I loved it. It has four bunks and an air mattress on the fold out couch, so it sleeps 10. With 5 kids, extra space is definitely beneficial to saving my sanity. Plus the bunk room has a DOOR! We can lock them in.

I'll post some inside pics soon, but this is really a story about a truck.

So, we're driving home from the dealer with our new travel trailer and Bobby says "We're probably only going to be able to take short trips because this is the max weight limit for the truck."

I ask, how short is short? Like an hour......

Uh, what? Could you maybe have mentioned this a couple thousand dollars ago? (yes, it's financed but throw in a down payment, insurance and a new tow hitch and there you go, money out of pocket)

So then starts the talk about we need a bigger truck. Wait a minute, bucko, that was NOT part of the deal.

Meanwhile, he still has the bone......

This is what our truck looked like Sunday when I went to work. If you remember a couple years ago, it was a pretty little black number. We seem to have a Suburban fetish. You gotta admit there is something sexy about the lines of a Chevy truck. Throw in a cowboy hat..... (Sorry, freak alert, this is a family blog).

 

This is what it looked like Monday morning when I got home from work. Still gold with a for sale sign in the window.

And this is what it looked like when I left for work Monday evening. A big red behemoth that may require a step stool to get into. It is pretty though, huh? Bobby did good. No money left the bank account. He sold his 1/2 ton and bought this 3/4 ton with a 454 for the exact same amount.

No, it doesn't really fit into our getting out of debt plan, but no one is promised tomorrow. I feel like you got to live a little while you're getting out of debt, know what I mean? What's the point of scrimping and saving if you miss out on enjoying life?

When life gives you strawberries

or is it when life gives you lemons?

Hmm, whatever.... when life give you strawberries on sale for $1/pound, you make jam.

Or at least, you try to. While Travis was working on his poster board, Mama was making jam.

This was my first attempt at making jam. Heck, my first attempt at canning all together.

Those handy dandy jar lifter thingys? Yeah, get one. I wouldn't recommend using grill tongs to lift hot jars out of boiling water. It's not very effective. I think I only dropped one, but still.

I followed the recipe in the Ball fruit pectin box. I'm wondering how it will turn out though. It said that 5 cups would equal 8 pint jars and it didn't. I had almost a quart left over. I didn't measure out 5 cups of strawberries but it said that was equal to about 5 pounds. I used 4 to 4.5 pounds.

And you may notice, the strawberries that didn't get quite smashed enough floated up the the top. (Smashing strawberries with a potato masher as recommended is pretty flippin hard).

The lids sealed but the jam hasn't "set". It's been 4 days now. The directions said it could take up to 2 weeks to set. I ended up shaking them up last night to mix it back together. Don't know if that was a good idea or not. I just didn't want strawberry jelly with strawberry chunks on top. Any canning experts out there who can tell me what to do about that?

Trav's project

Travis has been working on a report about JFK for a couple weeks now. They did alot of the work at school but he had to finish the last part at home.

It involved making a poster board which he will present during their "wax museum".

We went to the craft store the other day and picked up some supplies. I figured I'd have to help him a little bit but before I could get a chance, he was almost done with it. I was pretty impressed since this is one of those kids who has to be reminded to finish his homework about 20 times.

I'm hoping to go check out the wax museum tomorrow during school. I wonder if he'll say Kennedy was Ass Ass inated like I told him. LOL I know, probably not appropriate but we thought it was pretty funny.

The problem with big sisters

You may just wake up in the morning with marker "make-up"

I guess it could be worse. There could be fingernail polish and heels involved.

Teagan at 22 months

Hey, I passed 500 posts the other day.

Hard to believe anyone would be willing to read my nonsense for that long.

Happy Earth Day!

Celebrate green grass!

Mud puddles

Swing sets and water hoses don't mix.

How does your garden grow?

We spent the last week putting the garden in.

It's hard to tell, but really there are some things planted out there.

So far we have scarlet runner beans

blackeye peas

yellow squash

zuchinni

cucumbers

lettuce

and carrots.

Here are the chicks at Easter. They are already bigger than this.

They used to hang out there under that heat lamp. Now they're too busy running and jumping around the coop.

You can see here they are getting their feathers. I'll have to get another pic soon, because they look so different now.

Father daughter dance 2010

Tatum's school had their first father daughter dance last week. It was 50's themed.

Mom waited until the last minute to find her an outfit of course, so she was a bit disappointed that she didn't get a poodle skirt. But, I think she's still cute.

Easter in pictures

Warm, sunny day

Enough said

First quarter recap

Looking back at the goals for 2010:


•Lose 10 pounds.
Uh, thoroughly sucking at that. Lose one, gain one, and so on, and so forth. Enough said.

•Pay off 2 credit accounts.
Done! Paid off both of my credit cards. And a student loan, and my Invisalign account. Woowoo!

•Stay in school.
Quarter #7 starts Monday. I have apparently lost my mind and decided to take 4 classes this time around. If you never hear from me again, you'll know why.