Traditions....

Old school meets modern day....our freezer let's us crank til we are tired and then turn on the electric!! PERFECT!!

Homemade Banana Ice Cream in the summertime is tradition....well at least it's a MUST or it's not summer...does that make it a 'tradition'?
I don't know but it's YUMMMMMYY!!! My Mother and Daddy make it - had some last weekend made by them for my b'day. Tonight we are going to an "Ice Cream Social" (is that a southern thing?) and of course....it just must be banana!!

So yummy!! Want to make some too (you know you want to...you really just must!)? Well now you can join in the tradition....here's the recipe:

Vanderpool's World Famous Banana Ice Cream

(okay so I made up the name and perhaps it's a stretch, but I was an Army brat and we did live outside the US....and we did make it every summer wherever we were....and people always wanted the recipe)

2 cups sugar

6 eggs (can use egg beaters)
1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 Tbsp vanilla
3 small very ripe bananas, mushed
(as in you want them mushy and brown no mold, but the riper they are the sweeter they are)

Put all in your ice cream freezer cannister.
Finish filling freezer container to fill-line with milk (mine doesn't have a line...if yours doesn't just do it til it's about 2/3rds full as it will expand as it freezes)

and send that freezer spinning....!! YUMMMY!!! I guarantee satisfaction....if not completely satisfied...
well just give it to me!!

Proud

(my beautiful niece)

Today I was proud.

Proud to be an American.

I wonder who started the tradition of pulling over when funeral processions pass?

I just love seeing it occur.

Today

Cars on both sides of the median pulled over.

Someone in one of the cars was running late for an appt.

Someone was trying to get their kids to stop arguing.

Someone had a screaming baby ready for a bottle and a nap.

Someone was rushing between piano lessons and baseball practice.

most were in a hurry...aren't 99.9% of Americans in a hurry?

 But for just a moment they pulled over, slowed down their lives

 and showed respect.

and perhaps said a prayer for the people in the cars with their lights beaming letting us know that their hearts are heavy!

Mountain Tackled...tear free!

Total SPENT: $117.65
Total SAVED: $150.74
Not great, but not bad for the return trip with a bare pantry and no coupons from all the weeks we were gone.

(Publix purchase only)

So here are my stats:

KROGER
Spent: $70.96
SAVED: $81.33
and got $5 to use on my next purchase

PUBLIX:
Spent: $46.69
SAVED: $69.41

I won't bore you with what all I got, but here is the Publix list:

2 lbs Snow Crab legs
2 half gallons S Smart Milk
4Uncle Beans long grain and wild rice
1 dozen eggs
2.57 lbs plums
2 packages Edwards pie singles
2 6 pack double roll Cottonelle Ultra
6 4 pk packages YoPlait YoPlus Light Probiotic Yogurt
2 Plaintains
3 packages Mott's Natural no sugar Apple Sauce
4.42 lbs bananas
2 Organic Valley Butter
2 Large Pompeian Extra Virgin Olive Oil

tackling a mountain

nope not the laundry from the trip.....the grocery shopping.

I've been up tonight working on my grocery lists. For some reason I'm dreaded it horribly. I think it's just overwhelming. So many choices, bright clean stores, so many choices, well lit stores, so many choices, no animals in the stores, etc etc....

I don't know what it is, but the thought of stepping foot in a grocery store overwhelms me. But I've been asked to teach another coupon class in a couple weeks, so I really need to do it. Well and then there is that little issue of my family is ready to have food in the house. Although thanks to my handy dandy stockpile we've not starved. However...I don't stockpile snack foods generally (we'd eat as much as there was on hand so I try to limit how much is onhand) and there's been very little offerings for lunch foods.

Yep...they'd like to eat, and I'd like to feed them...but I'd prefer to do it without going to the grocery store. Think it's possible to grow a garden overnight??? Oh and buy and slaughter my own meat and catch some good fish???

didn't think so....here goes nothing. The list is ready. Coupons are beside it.

Pressure is on...

That's right I on top of the overwhelmingness (wow spell check didn't catch that...who knew that was really a word!!) of it all I have all the pressure to 'SAVE BIG' - people expect it from me now...we'll see...I've let us get so bare I doubt it will be a giant save...I'll be happy if I'm upside down with my savings more than my spending but not sure if thats even possible this trip. UGH! But once I start I'll get back in the swing of things and get cranking on the coupons once again....addictions do that to you.......

Hooray for mailmen!!!!

look what came in the mail yesterday!!!

Oh a package...a package!! So so much fun to get a package!! hee hee....that inner child never quite goes away for me. You pull in the driveway and see a package and my inner child does a little jig!!
And what fun this one is. I know books...looks boring...but I BEG to differ. Just came yesterday and I fell asleep pouring over "Managers of their Homes" last night and woke up and picked it back up this morning. My favorite part thus far....each chapter has a sample of a different homeschooling families schedule!! WHOOHOOOO.....I LOVE when fellow homeschoolers post their schedules on their blogs. It's a huge help to me...the unscheduled unorganized one...so this is like heaven in a book for me!! WHOoot hoott!!
I'm already half-way through and learning so much....I'll keep you posted as we begin our shift from unorganized to more organized (but keeping our relaxed attitudes)!!

wild ride!!

That's what foster parenting can be.....a wild roller coaster! One you find it hard to not get back on again no matter how crazy it was!!

and for today...that's all I'm gonna say about that....

sigh....

(photo taken by my friend Chad looking out our front windows at our house in Trujillo)

We picked up all our suitcases today. Which means we're really back....well our stuff and our bodies are....

my heart and brain are still adjusting. I just look around and feel so stinkin' spoiled and wasteful. I do not have a house filled with what I would call 'nice stuff.'
yet....I do.

I don't have a 'nice car.'
yet....I do.

I'm amazingly spoiled with 'stuff' And in a few weeks I know that the reality is I'll be back in my true North American mode and wanting more 'stuff' So I write this to remember that a few days ago one of the nicest things I had was the view from my window, and it was more than enough!!!!

I feel as if I stepped off the plane and right into school planning. I'm excited about the changes we're making in school with my kiddos. New curriculumes (Sonlight & MathUSee) I feel like I'm finally getting in the swing of things. We've been homeschooling a year and a half now. I'm constantly learning and getting more and more comfortable with it. I have so much I want to accomplish this year that I am not sure how I'm going to do it. My sister told me about this book she got a while back that she has really liked. So I just ordered it. My sister is the organized one. She does lists (she LOVES lists). She plans activities for her toddlers. She has the kids toys organized into activity boxes so all the toys aren't out all the time....
Me....I'm the fly by the seat of my pants sister. I think lists are fun, but where did I put i that list??Toys are all over my house tucked in baskets, shelves, trunks, etc....I've always been totally unorganized and in most things in life, I have a come what may type attitude. I don't mind that part of me too much, it's what makes living in Honduras easy for us. BUT when it comes to parenting and homeschooling, I do not want to be that way. I don't want our day to be like traditional school, but I want to ensure we are getting done all that we need to plus all that I WANT to....and having a great time doing it!!! I don't have my kids at home for very long and I want to ensure I don't look back and say "If only I'd...." or "If only we'd...."merely because I was so unorganized and la la la....

I'm looking forward to the book arriving and seeing what I think and if I can implement any of the principals....my problem is that me nor my sweet hubby are routine oriented people. We are HORRID at routines and follow through and that's the biggest thing I'd like to improve on....just the simple stuff....daily Bible study, keeping the laundry put away, weeding the garden...simple stuff that I seem to let slide on a 'busy' day!
So we'll see.......

home again Home Again Jiggedy Jog

Well we made it....with not one piece of luggage, but we made it! hopefully the luggage will catch up with us soon. We have little to wear so I think everyone around us hopes it catches up with us too...ha ha! But we are used to living pretty simply so it's not that big of a deal. The funny thing is what I'm wanting from my luggage isn't the clothes (although that would be a nice perk). But I have cooking supplies in there - like 2 Comals, spices, etc. I am ready to have. I mixed up flour tortillas last night for dinner and remembered I didn't have my comals....UGH! So I had to use an iron skillet, they weren't as good. So hopefully the luggage will arrive SOON!!

We had 2 layovers and when we arrived at the first our luggage didn't arrive with us. Nope it never started the journey home even. Apparently it wanted to stay on Roatan Island - but we were ready to LEAVE! Now don't get me wrong. We LOVE LOVE LOOOOVE Roatan. It's amazing and fabulous and everyone should go! BUT the reason we go works well for us. Leaving Trujillo is hard. We never ever want to. Heading to Roatan for a few days of a change of scenery and a change of pace helps us move into wanting to come home and acclimate back into North American life a bit. By the end of the week we were very ready to go home.

Our life in Trujillo is so very very different than our life in the USA. Just being in our house here can be overwhelming for us. Being in our church building. Riding in our car. Going to a store. All of that is overwhelming at some level. So going to Roatan first helps with some of that...not all of it, but some if it.

It was an AMAZING summer...and we're looking forward to a wonderful fall!

I'll post a few pictures soon....hubby has the laptop with all the photos with him at a business meeting today.