So I'm pretty lazy and don't edit any of my photos before uploading them and I've run out of my 1 GB free space that blogger gives you. Since I'm hosting two other sites with LOTS of room to spare, I'm moving this blog. It's just a trial for now, I'll redirect the URL when I decide to make it permanent if it meets my usability and speed requirements. So, you an keep following The Masten Effect here:
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
The World According to Zoey
Sometimes I just let Zoey take the point and shoot camera and go capture the world. For a 4-year-old she can be pretty photographically artistic. Granted this is 1 photo for every 10 she took....
Pumpkins Away
Picking the perfect pumpkins at Houston Garden Center.
Gutting them for Jack-o-lanterns. Zoey really enjoyed this part this year. Ian reluctantly agreed to grab a few handfuls but then went his own way to do other things. Zoey actually helped carve this year with the little saws. It was hard work for her, but she wouldn't give up. She was very proud of her work. I didn't take a picture but she chose a cat design to carve into the pumpkin.
And then there is November 1st, which is almost as great as October 31st. Pumpkin Stew, Braised Mustard Greens with Bacon, and Pumpkin Pie. Mmmm fall food is so yummy.
Gutting them for Jack-o-lanterns. Zoey really enjoyed this part this year. Ian reluctantly agreed to grab a few handfuls but then went his own way to do other things. Zoey actually helped carve this year with the little saws. It was hard work for her, but she wouldn't give up. She was very proud of her work. I didn't take a picture but she chose a cat design to carve into the pumpkin.
And then there is November 1st, which is almost as great as October 31st. Pumpkin Stew, Braised Mustard Greens with Bacon, and Pumpkin Pie. Mmmm fall food is so yummy.
A Look back at Halloween
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, there's so many decorations you can get/make and dressing up is fun. Mostly I like the ability to be wildly creative with my kids's costumes. It seems a little counter intuitive for me since I was never anything but a black cat...except one year I was forced to be a unicorn because my cat costume was lost.
This year Zoey decided she wanted to be Princess Bubblegum from Adventure Time. I used Simplicty 2330 which I had to alter slightly to accommodate the purple belt. It was pretty easy except I decided to put in an invisible zipper and that was a best! I also had difficulties with the collar and had to do a lot of hand tacking on it to get it to sit properly. Initially I was going to buy a wig for her to wear but I couldn't find anything I liked at a reasonable price that would fit her well so I decided to just crochet up something. Since technically her hair is actually bubblegum, a crochet wig seemed to bridge the gab between cartoon and realistic. And yes, I did crochet this incorrectly. If I were crocheting into the stitch instead of the space it wouldn't have been so hole-y. I also wished I had used a darker color, but due to time constraints I just used what I had enough of in my stash. The construction paper crown also suffered from my lack of time. Brandon fashioned it and it worked surprisingly well.
This year Zoey decided she wanted to be Princess Bubblegum from Adventure Time. I used Simplicty 2330 which I had to alter slightly to accommodate the purple belt. It was pretty easy except I decided to put in an invisible zipper and that was a best! I also had difficulties with the collar and had to do a lot of hand tacking on it to get it to sit properly. Initially I was going to buy a wig for her to wear but I couldn't find anything I liked at a reasonable price that would fit her well so I decided to just crochet up something. Since technically her hair is actually bubblegum, a crochet wig seemed to bridge the gab between cartoon and realistic. And yes, I did crochet this incorrectly. If I were crocheting into the stitch instead of the space it wouldn't have been so hole-y. I also wished I had used a darker color, but due to time constraints I just used what I had enough of in my stash. The construction paper crown also suffered from my lack of time. Brandon fashioned it and it worked surprisingly well.
Costs:
Pattern: $1
Fabric: $6
Notions and accessories: $5
Total: $12
Ian was originally supposed to be Jake, and then we decided on BMO when I got some great boxes that would have worked just right. As I set to fitting the box for his costume, it became blatantly apparent he was NOT going to wear that. A short freak out later, I decided to go with "Super Ian." It was the most I could hope to get him to wear. I could have drafted my own cape pattern, but I decided to buy one I found because I didn't want to deal with the stress of failures, I was out of time. I also decided to just use some fabric I had in my stash in case Ian still refused to wear it. So, not the most coordinating, but I didn't really care.
Costs:
Pattern: $3
Fabric & notions: free from stash
Total: $3
They had a good time at the ward Trunk-or-Treat and Trick-or-Treating. Zoey decided to give her candy to the Great Pumpkin and she got some stickers and games in return. Ian ate the majority of his candy, with a little help it was gone in just a few days. Whew, glad that is over. I hope work isn't so busy next year and I can make costumes for the whole family.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Food Storage Here We Go!
So this rambling post started as a Facebook status update and then I switched to the blog and just started pouring out everything in my brain. I'm sorry for the grammar and formatting, but I just had to get it out there.
Apparently the slow and cheap way of getting my 3 month food storage was not panning out (been "trying" for 5 years now) so I decided that with all the extra hours I'm working we can afford to do the quick and easy way. So I ordered several preconfigured packages from a couple different companies: Shelf Reliance, Augason Farms, and Wise Food Supply for some variety of contents. At least this way I will have something and can start learning to use it and learn what we like and use and then build our year supply from what I learn. It works out to about 1088 calories per day, which I know is a little low (though I know the kids consume far less than this, I'm dividing calories equally between us all). I'd prefer 1500 cals per person minimum, but with the produce we get from the garden year round I think that would make up the difference. And this is if we had to rely SOLELY on what was in the food storage. I usually keep a month+ worth of typical canned goods in my pantry at any given time. So I feel comfortable calling this my 3 month supply.
Lucky for Lowla, her dog food has a best by date of about a year after packaging, so I picked up a 3 month supply for her also. Don't forget your pets need to eat too!
Next month I will be focusing on water storage. After all, water is pretty essential and none of that dry food is gonna taste that great if it can't be reconstituted and cooked. I've got my eyes on the Super Tanker. I'd like to get two but I think we'll start with one and see how that works out. 250 gals would be less than a gallon per person per day for 3 months - for our family of 4-not including the dog's needs, which is not acceptable. I think it's a good idea to also have portable, more convenient water, so I plan to also stock up on bottled water and some 5 gal containers as well. I've been wanting to get some rain barrels for a while too. Emergency water for human consumption if needed, but mostly for sustaining the garden in drought and no city water is available or it is contaminated.
Month after will be non perishables(toiletries) and accessories (wheat grinder, potable drinking hoses) and organization tools for rotating and storing stock.
I'm not sure why recently it is really striking me to get my stuff in order, it may have a lot to do with my recent calling to be the Relief Society Secretary, but in any case I know the Lord is providing very well for us financially right now, and though we've been paying down our mortgage dramatically, I think putting our food supply in order is a good use of funds. Today may be high, but tomorrow who knows, better prepared than not.
To many, myself included, this just seemed like a daunting task that would take forever to accomplish and if you need to do it the cheapest way, then yes it will take a lot of time and planning. I don't think it is communicated very well that you don't HAVE to do it the slow and cheap way and that you're not a bad person if you choose to take the short cuts. What's important is that you feel you are adequately prepared to self sustain your family in any situation: daily interruptions (like when our neighborhood lost water for half a day and then was on boil notice for a week in case of contaminated supply), job loss, health complications, local disaster, national disaster, global disaster. Heck, I think this is great insurance for "I can't get to the store today but we are out of eggs and I need to bake a cake...oh hello dehydrated eggs, thanks for saving me!" or "I've been on the couch horribly sick all day but my family needs dinner and my husband is working late. Hi there MRE, I'm so glad you're here to feed my children in 15 minutes."
Whatever the case, I never want to feel like I have to rely on someone else, or the government, to take care of me and my family if I am perfectly able to do it myself. They always say to save for a rainy day, and usually we think of money, but if the day ever came that food was more valuable than money, I want to make sure my bank is full.
If you haven't started yours, go to a site now and just order a sample pack if that's all you can. The rest will follow. Don't sit longer thinking of doing it tomorrow or waiting to be better organized. I testify your desire and interest will strengthen after you take the first step of doing.
Apparently the slow and cheap way of getting my 3 month food storage was not panning out (been "trying" for 5 years now) so I decided that with all the extra hours I'm working we can afford to do the quick and easy way. So I ordered several preconfigured packages from a couple different companies: Shelf Reliance, Augason Farms, and Wise Food Supply for some variety of contents. At least this way I will have something and can start learning to use it and learn what we like and use and then build our year supply from what I learn. It works out to about 1088 calories per day, which I know is a little low (though I know the kids consume far less than this, I'm dividing calories equally between us all). I'd prefer 1500 cals per person minimum, but with the produce we get from the garden year round I think that would make up the difference. And this is if we had to rely SOLELY on what was in the food storage. I usually keep a month+ worth of typical canned goods in my pantry at any given time. So I feel comfortable calling this my 3 month supply.
Lucky for Lowla, her dog food has a best by date of about a year after packaging, so I picked up a 3 month supply for her also. Don't forget your pets need to eat too!
Next month I will be focusing on water storage. After all, water is pretty essential and none of that dry food is gonna taste that great if it can't be reconstituted and cooked. I've got my eyes on the Super Tanker. I'd like to get two but I think we'll start with one and see how that works out. 250 gals would be less than a gallon per person per day for 3 months - for our family of 4-not including the dog's needs, which is not acceptable. I think it's a good idea to also have portable, more convenient water, so I plan to also stock up on bottled water and some 5 gal containers as well. I've been wanting to get some rain barrels for a while too. Emergency water for human consumption if needed, but mostly for sustaining the garden in drought and no city water is available or it is contaminated.
Month after will be non perishables(toiletries) and accessories (wheat grinder, potable drinking hoses) and organization tools for rotating and storing stock.
I'm not sure why recently it is really striking me to get my stuff in order, it may have a lot to do with my recent calling to be the Relief Society Secretary, but in any case I know the Lord is providing very well for us financially right now, and though we've been paying down our mortgage dramatically, I think putting our food supply in order is a good use of funds. Today may be high, but tomorrow who knows, better prepared than not.
To many, myself included, this just seemed like a daunting task that would take forever to accomplish and if you need to do it the cheapest way, then yes it will take a lot of time and planning. I don't think it is communicated very well that you don't HAVE to do it the slow and cheap way and that you're not a bad person if you choose to take the short cuts. What's important is that you feel you are adequately prepared to self sustain your family in any situation: daily interruptions (like when our neighborhood lost water for half a day and then was on boil notice for a week in case of contaminated supply), job loss, health complications, local disaster, national disaster, global disaster. Heck, I think this is great insurance for "I can't get to the store today but we are out of eggs and I need to bake a cake...oh hello dehydrated eggs, thanks for saving me!" or "I've been on the couch horribly sick all day but my family needs dinner and my husband is working late. Hi there MRE, I'm so glad you're here to feed my children in 15 minutes."
Whatever the case, I never want to feel like I have to rely on someone else, or the government, to take care of me and my family if I am perfectly able to do it myself. They always say to save for a rainy day, and usually we think of money, but if the day ever came that food was more valuable than money, I want to make sure my bank is full.
If you haven't started yours, go to a site now and just order a sample pack if that's all you can. The rest will follow. Don't sit longer thinking of doing it tomorrow or waiting to be better organized. I testify your desire and interest will strengthen after you take the first step of doing.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
First Day of Preschool
So this year I decided to do a co-op preschool with a couple other moms in the ward. Since Zoey has an extra year before she goes to kindergarten, I thought she might enjoy a casual school type atmosphere. For those that are unfamiliar with how a co-op works, the participating moms get together and choose a curriculum and then rotate who teaches each week. When we first got together, it felt like the only choices were Mother Goose Time and Joy School. I didn't have any experience with either, but two of the moms in our group had used both of them and there were things they liked and things they didn't like. Well, because I'm extreme like I am, I went out into the world wide web and found some more options and ordered a month's worth of materials from each of them to compare. I ordered from Star Brite, Funshine Express, The Learning Box, and Funsteps. Over the summer I tested them each out with Zoey..to an extent. As a group, we decided on using Funshine Express as our curriculum for our co-op. It's a good quality program, that does take some preparation.
What I found though just using the other kits with Zoey, I actually preferred Star Brite simply because each lesson was an individual packet with 4 or 5 activities to do, and that's what Zoey likes to do, get down to the crafting. The material quality was medium-low, but it is just right for her to sit down and I explain what to do with each activity and then let her at it. It was the least structured in terms of running the day and dividing out the skills used, etc. It was mostly simple crafts (cutting and pasting) but it was also easy to explain what the craft meant and to teach off of without really even reading the lesson plan.
Every time I've tried to do something from the Learning Box I find it is disorganized and difficult to follow and the crafts are heavily integrated, they don't stand alone at all. I have to sit down and read through the booklet for 5 minutes before I can even start to explain to Zoey what we're doing. I just didn't feel like it was easy to pick up and use. Material quality is medium-high.
Funsteps crafts were easy to pick up and do, but they almost never felt like they went along with the lesson material, or they were a stretch. They're extremely simple and not very open ended. But because of the ease of throwing one at Zoey and explaining what to do and let her to it, I reached for this kit second often, but she blazed through the activities really fast. Material quality is low.
Funshine Express crafts stand alone or support the lesson really well. They are fairly easy to pick out and just do, but they usually require paint or other messy stuff, so I didn't reach for this kit as often as Star Brite, but I think it was the best choice for the co-op. The materials are high quality and the included activity materials are substantial. It's well organized, and lends well to something you intend to sit down and prepare and teach from.
Anyway, Zoey was pretty excited to learn she was going to school and the first day she kept asking if it was time to go. It's too bad she wound up feeling under the weather the first week and was full on sick the first part of the second week, but Today was her first day of feeling herself again and she just really loves going. She's super excited that next week school will be held here.
What I found though just using the other kits with Zoey, I actually preferred Star Brite simply because each lesson was an individual packet with 4 or 5 activities to do, and that's what Zoey likes to do, get down to the crafting. The material quality was medium-low, but it is just right for her to sit down and I explain what to do with each activity and then let her at it. It was the least structured in terms of running the day and dividing out the skills used, etc. It was mostly simple crafts (cutting and pasting) but it was also easy to explain what the craft meant and to teach off of without really even reading the lesson plan.
Every time I've tried to do something from the Learning Box I find it is disorganized and difficult to follow and the crafts are heavily integrated, they don't stand alone at all. I have to sit down and read through the booklet for 5 minutes before I can even start to explain to Zoey what we're doing. I just didn't feel like it was easy to pick up and use. Material quality is medium-high.
Funsteps crafts were easy to pick up and do, but they almost never felt like they went along with the lesson material, or they were a stretch. They're extremely simple and not very open ended. But because of the ease of throwing one at Zoey and explaining what to do and let her to it, I reached for this kit second often, but she blazed through the activities really fast. Material quality is low.
Funshine Express crafts stand alone or support the lesson really well. They are fairly easy to pick out and just do, but they usually require paint or other messy stuff, so I didn't reach for this kit as often as Star Brite, but I think it was the best choice for the co-op. The materials are high quality and the included activity materials are substantial. It's well organized, and lends well to something you intend to sit down and prepare and teach from.
Anyway, Zoey was pretty excited to learn she was going to school and the first day she kept asking if it was time to go. It's too bad she wound up feeling under the weather the first week and was full on sick the first part of the second week, but Today was her first day of feeling herself again and she just really loves going. She's super excited that next week school will be held here.
She dressed herself. I'm ok with that.
Just had to share this picture of her fake nails. Brandon took her to CVS to get milk and they came back with these claws. She babied them as long as she could until they just got all kinds of random junk stuck in the adhesive and she woke up with them in her hair. They didn't stick really great, but they were fun for her while they lasted. She's such a girly girl. I have no idea where she gets it from.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Zoey Turns Four
About a year ago Zoey figured out that birthdays meant presents and a party just for you. She has been talking about her birthday since the day after it last year. Every time she talked about all the things she would get at her birthday and who would be there and all it just got more and more grandiose. So by the time it's about a month away I figure I better start planning this thing or this is going to be one really disappointed kid. We decided on a Hello Kitty theme with pink and white. Even though purple is her favorite color, she seemed happy enough about this arrangement. I went full on and bought lots of decorations and theme coordinating plates and hats and all. To her, this event is the biggest of her life. Since this was going to be the first party where it was more for the kids than the adults, I actually planned a few crafts, games and activities for the girls who attended. I think everyone had a great time. Zoey was so excited the night before when we decorated, she could hardly sleep and she was up at the crack of dawn ready for the party to start, asking every 10 minutes if it was time for the party.
The party area, Zoey set the table all by herself.
She is so excited she keeps coming back to the table to wear her hat and make sure everything is still perfectly in place.
Some of the craft and activities plus more paper goods.
The cake was a chocolate cream cheese pound cake and I piped little stars all over it and outlined HK's features. It turned out ok. Not professional by a long shot, but it was tasty!
More decorations
Party favors for friends, they got a Hello Kitty notebook, pencil, stickers, candy and a hair clip.
A party game, the kids really liked this one, Zoey, Ian and Carmen all got their bows right on HK's bow.
My fabulously awesome mom did face painting for the kids. Lots of rainbows and flowers. Ian wound up with a whole scene across his face.
Zoey shows off some of her crafts. pipe cleaner beaded bracelets and a tulip. She wanted to do crafts the whole time but her friends just wanted to play and do other things.
Finally we sing Happy Birthday and she is a pro at blowing out the candled. Again this year Ian took the liberty of blowing them out once before Zoey got her turn. haha little brothers. After everyone sang Happy Birthday, we let the rotating, light flashing cake stand sing to her also..thanks grandma.
PRESENTS!!!! She was a mad whirlwind of opening gifts. Paper and tissue flying left and right, I don't think she took a half glance at anything before throwing it aside for the next gift. Once the dust settled and everyone had cake an ice cream, she revisited her giant pile of arts, crafts, and girly gifts to open everything and start playing. She is one happy girl.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZOEY!
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