A Mini Miracle? . . . . Yes I Believe So

So my love is on furloughs.  (Forced unpaid days off - which translates to work days subtracted from our usual paychecks.)  Really and truly we are fine.  So blessed and much better off than some others facing the same thing.  We have a savings to fall back on for times exactly like this.  BUT, it's best to live within your means.  And our "means" is temporarily decreased.  So I have been trying SO so so so hard to stick to a budget and spend $250 less this month.  Monthly meal planning has been a big help in this but potlucks have been a little tricky.  Some of my "dinner plans" didn't translate into ideal potluck dishes and I've had to be creative in order to avoid another trip to the store.  But so far, so good, and I've been pretty proud of myself.

I was ready to head to the store this evening though.  A good friend of mine is having a baby shower tomorrow night.  I always give a hooded bath towel as a baby gift.  (I call them "Tub Cubs")  Which really isn't that expensive of a gift, but I also always make it a point to make hooded bath towels for other young siblings who might be feeling just a little jealous of the new bundle of joy. 

So like I said, ready to go to the store.  But last fall, I taught a class on how to make these towels and had bought several extra so that there would be color choices.  So I went downstairs to see how many towels I had, and how many I would have to go buy.  I had enough to make 3.  Just what I needed.  I was feeling pretty happy about this until I remembered I have a niece and nephew I've been meaning to make one for.  But they live so far away, I hardly ever see them and hadn't gotten around to it yet.  We are going to see them this weekend.  Now would be the ideal time to make those.  Then I could give them to them in person.  So bummer, still gonna have to go to the store, but hey, I still didn't have to buy the first 3, and that's great. 

Then I remembered I thought I had stocked up on white hand towels and went down stairs again to find those.  In searching for those I found other towels.  Enough towels to make 2 more!!!  Really.  I know where the first 3 came from, but these second 2, I honestly am having a hard time remembering why it is that I had these lying around. 

So seriously.  I didn't have to go to the store and spend 1 single penny.  I was able to make exactly what I needed.  How great is that?

I pondered all this as I sewed late into the night.  Wondering.  Thinking.
Was it a coincidence?
Was it a deliberate blessing? 

At first I was torn.  But what finally sealed the deal for me was the fact that not only did I have exactly enough towels for what I needed, but I had the exact boy:girl ratio for what a needed.  Surely THAT is not just a coincidence.

I am in humble awe of my Heavenly Fathers love for me.

Why?  Why would He do this?  This unimportant non-universe altering thing.  There are so many others with needs far greater and far more important.  They are the ones who NEED the miracles.  Why am I showered with blessings?

As I paused my cutting and pinning to ponder this, tears streamed down my face.  Then the music I was listening to began to play an instrumental version of "My Heavenly Father Loves Me."

So, why?  Well, as best as I can figure, because my Heavenly Father loves me.  I thought about earthly fathers who love their daughters.  (Mine included.)  So quick to lend a hand in any tiny way possible.  Surely my Heavenly Father loves me as much as an earthly father.

I still feel awe and wonder and am still struggling to fully understand "why".  But I am grateful and I pray the Lord will provide me opportunities to bless others as I have been so abundantly blessed.

BONUS PHOTO:
Since today is Pioneer Day and all.

TREASURES!

My love and I LOVE garage sales (& thrift stores)!  We hit the mother-load on Saturday Holy Cow!  I can't believe the crazy deals we got.  I feel like I was robbing all these people!!!

This first one is by far my favorite.  I've always wanted and wished I had one of these!

Cost brand new: $175  Used:$50  What did I pay? $2 !!!
* no that's not a typo, AND it works!  The bulb is not burnt out or anything!

This was at a different yard sale.  I almost didn't get it but my love really wanted it.  (Note the really cute feet sticking out the bottom. )  :)

Cost brand new: $120  Used:$20  What did we pay? $5 

We have been wanting one of these for a while.  A long time ago we bought a cheep copycat brand, and well, you get what you pay for.  We haven't been very happy about with it.  A piece broke on it and the coating is coming off the grill.  But we just couldn't bring ourselves to to go out and buy a new one.  
Well the one we found was BRAND NEW.  Still in the box, still in the wrapping!

Cost brand new: $100  Used:$50  What did we pay? $20 

All the closets in our house have these kind of shelves in them.  And whose closet couldn't use more shelves?  And this isn't all of them.  There were 3 pieces that are taller than my love and I didn't want to hall them upstairs.

Cost brand new: $100  Used: ?  What did we pay? $0 !!!
They were just giving them away!

We tried to make angel food cake on the 4th of July, but I didn't have one of these.  We used some muffin tins and a pie pan.  It was less than glorious be we made do.  But next time . . .

Cost brand new: $20  Used:$8  What did I pay? $3 !!!

Hugh dress up paperdoll sticker book, and a new cutesie pattern book.

Cost brand new: $5 & $30  Used: -  What did I pay? $1 & $1 !!!

This a Leap Frog toy and I love it.  It's an ingenous little thing.  Little dot-to-dot lights shine behind the screen.  Shortcake traces the dots and WALA: My 2 year old is getting amazing practice writing her letters.  She loves it.  (I love it too.)

Cost brand new: $25  Used:$5  What did I pay? $1 !!!

E.Mae found a treasure of her own.  She's always wanted a witch costume.

Cost brand new: $25  Used:$4  What did I pay? $1 !!!

K. Rae wanted to show off her treasure of the day too.

 Cost brand new: $20(It's a Webkins)  Used:$2  What did she pay? $.50 !!!

All in all we felt like we made out like bandits!  

Furlogh Day 1

Originally was wasn't going to "post" about this cause I didn't think it was a very big thing.  Then I realized I had 10 pictures I wanted to share . . . obviously the day wasn't as obsolete as I thought. 

Today was my love's 1st official furlough day.  And I must say, we enjoyed it to it's absolute fullest and spent next to nothing doing so.  It was great! 

We went to Tacoma.  Unarguably one of the highlights for my girls is getting to ride the "train." (Tacoma Link Light Rail - free by the way.)  Children are experts at finding joy in life's simple things.

Were we doing anything particular in Tacoma you may ask?  Yes.  I saw advertised a long time ago that an Eric Carle exibit was coming to Tacoma.  I said then that I would really enjoy going to that.  But our summer started off in a bit of a busy rush and it didn't make it onto my priorities list.
Just last week I saw the ad again on something we had recorded off tv.  I thought surely the exhibit is gone by now but I checked just in case.   Indeed it was supposed to be gone, but the exhibit had been extended!  Crazy lucky for me.

But even luckier than that, we were coming up on a Third Thursday.  Which is THE day to go to Tacoma.  Every third Thursday afternoon/evening, all their museums are free.  (They have quite a few of them.  All within walking distance even.)  

I was a little hesitant to go on "Free Day" for worry that it would be super crowded.  But really, it's wasn't too bad in my opinion.   We left early in the afternoon to avoid any commuters traffic.  Let the kiddos play at that Children's Museum of Tacoma (which is a pay-what-you-can-afford establishment), ate an early picnic dinner, and got to the Museum just before 5:00, beating the crowds.  (I was kind of proud of how smoothly our itinerary was executed.)

So, don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the exhibit.  But it was SO not worth the $25 it would have cost us to get our family of 5 in the door.  I found several items very interesting, but my kiddos managed to get us though the actual art displays in less than 30 min.  Unarguably the best part was the access to the art studio upstairs. 

Eric Carle works with tissue paper, so they had tissue paper project supplies. 

Eric Carle paints paper, then cuts it into shapes, and makes animals out of them.  So they had this really neat magnet board thing.  Huge magnets in various crazy shapes, that looked like his painting.   The kids could then put the pieces together to make things just like Eric Carle.  Such a good idea!  This is K. Rae's "tornado over the country side."  Way cool huh? 

This is E. Mae's house with a boat floating on a lake.

When we planned this trip, we had only planned on the 2 museums, but we had so much extra time left that we walked down the street to the Washington State History Museum.  On our way, K. Rae asked to take a picture with this gentleman. 

K. Rae is thinking of starting a "collection" of pictures of her with statues.  That would me kind of cool don't you think?

What better way to finish of a fun family day then with chocolate pudding?  

Amazing Sauce!!!!!

Oh my gosh this recipe was A-MAZE-ING!!!  Holy cow.  This is NOT a "cooking" blog so I do not post a recipe unless it is really yummy, and EASY.   12-step recipes with 10+ ingredients, NOT MY THING.  I'm too lazy.  

 

One of my top 10 favorite things to eat is a real good Alfredo.  But I don't get it very often.  2 reasons.  One - pasta is a lot of carbs.  Two - my love has to stay away from milk.  The number one ingredient in most alfredos: cream.   

I peruse food pins on pinterest once a month when I make up our dinner list.  That's where I found this recipe.  The lady raved on, and on, and on some more, about how wonderful it was.  (Hee hee, kinda like me I guess.)  She also uses this sauce with rice and uses it for a white sauce on chicken pizza.   

I thought, "How could she rave about it so if it was gross?"  Dairy-free alfredo, kids eat some veggies, not to hard to make.  Sure, why not.  For kicks and giggles.  Give it a shot. 

Oh my gosh what a great shot it was.  Really.  I've made recipes before that I would label as "edible - but never making again" and honestly, I was prepared for this to be added to that list.  I actually had back up plans for dinner just in case.  I mean come on.  It's cauliflower.  How "yummy" & "amazing" could this possibly be?

I'll admit I've never cut up a fresh head of cauliflower before.  So that was new and added a smidgen of adventure to my day.  

Followed all the instructions and grabbed a tasting spoon. 

Whoa!  Who invited the Olive Garden into my tiny little kitchen!?!   Like seriously.  It tasted so good.   

 

Come on.  Go buy yourself 3 things: a head of cauliflower, some broth and some garlic.  It won't kill ya. 

Okay, okay, ready for the actual recipe?  Here it is:

 

 

Creamy Cauliflower Sauce

Author: Pinch of Yum

Serves: makes about 5 cups

 

Ingredients

• 8 large cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 5-6 cups cauliflower florets
• 6-7 cups vegetable broth or water
• 1 teaspoon salt (more to taste)
• ½ teaspoon pepper (more to taste)
• ½ cup milk (more to taste)

NOTES, TIDBITS & POINTERS ON THE INGREDIENTS

1) I buy my garlic pre-"minced" at the store.  It comes in a little 4oz glass jar.  I don't use garlic very often and have had problems with my "fresh" garlic going bad.  So I keep a jar of this stuff in the fridge instead.  

1/2 tsp = 1 clove (says so on the rim of the lid).

2) "5-6 cups of cauliflower florets" = about 1 head of cauliflower.  I bought the biggest one there and actually had closer to 7 cups. 

3) I didn't have enough vegetable broth so we did 1/2 vegetable broth and 1/2 chicken broth.  But . . . broth isn't exactly cheep, so I plan on experimenting with a ratio of broth:water cause the original recipe did say "or water"

4)  I felt the amount of pepper was a little strong for my kiddos.  I plan on lessening that just a bit next time. 

5)  My love has to stay away from milk so we used a 1/2 cup of plain soy milk.

 

Instructions

1. Cauliflower: Bring the water or vegetable broth to a boil in a large pot. Add the cauliflower and cook, covered, for 7-10 minutes or until cauliflower is fork tender. Do not drain.
2. Garlic: The original recipe said: "Saute the minced garlic with the butter . . . until the garlic is soft and fragrant but not browned (browned or burnt garlic will taste bitter)".  Pashaw.  You're talking to the Lazyest Cook Ever here.  Who wants to dirty a pan for a tiny bit of minced garlic and butter?  I put my butter in a microwave cup, scooped the pre-minced garlic on top of it and put it in the microwave for 1 minute.  Worked just fine.
3. Puree: Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cauliflower pieces to the blender. Add 1 cup vegetable broth or cooking liquid, sauteed garlic/butter, salt, pepper, and milk. Blend or puree for several minutes until the sauce is very smooth, adding more broth or milk depending on how thick you want the sauce. You may have to do this in batches depending on the size of your blender. (It ALL fit in my blender and it's an el'cheepo not shnazzy blender.) Serve hot. If the sauce starts to look dry, add a few drops of water, milk, or olive oil. (Didn't have the "dry" problem personally, it was just fine.)

Notes

The original author said she likes to add a little bit of olive oil for the flavor and to help keep the sauce really smooth. Several other readers mentioned that they really liked the addition of Parmesan cheese as well.

**Serving size is 1/2 cup.

You can do this.  :)  I promise.  :)