Flavors of Autumn- Making Apple Cider

About 7 years ago, my mother and I started a tradition.  She had this enormous apple tree in her front yard, that she never really utilized, and we wanted to start using the apples from it.  So we started catching the apples that fell from it to make cider, and when the tree was full of apples we would pick them and make apple pies.  My mothers pies were so good! 
I am continuing that tradition this year by doing the same.  My stepfather brought a basket of apples to me that he collected and I made my cider once again.
 
I wash them and run them through our juicer. 

Then I boil the juice and strain it through a fine cloth.




The juice turns out so wonderful, and what is strained off I make into apple butter for toast, by adding cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves  and sugar.  Yummmmm!         
It is a lot of work, but well worth the trouble.  Our entire family loves apple cider and apple butter.  It makes enough for a little over a gallon of cider and maybe 4 cups of apple butter and it goes fast.
Traditions are so wonderful, the best ones are the ones you fall into.  Ours came about because we wanted to make great use of something that was already blessing us. 
The feelings and memories this annual job gave us are priceless.  Having those memories has made our lives more fulfilling.  Creating traditions with this in mind will make the effort that goes into these jobs more worth the effort.

del.icio.us Tags: Apples,Cider,Butter,Family,Traditions,Autumn,Memories,Warm Up,Juicer,Straining

Getting it Together: Scheduling Tips

Last fall at this very same time, I ordered the Flylady calendar from flylady.net.  I tried using a different calendar the year before and I wasn’t really that impressed with it.  It was too small and it was supposed to stick to the refrigerator, yet the magnet kept falling off.  Not really helpful for busy people like us.
Ok so anyway… the flylady calendar is simple, large and she does have a sticker kit that you can get also to help with some of the days you might want to add to you schedule.  It has a spot for notes, that I use monthly to create checklists of things I need to do and it helps me stay organized. 
I started a household notebook this summer.  This is so I can keep all of my important papers together, organized and within easy reach.  The free printouts to create your own can be found here.  I love this tool, it has really helped with the paper clutter at home.
I have a section in my household notebook for school calendars and notices.  I keep sports schedules, after school activities, the school calendar, and my sons Pre-K events dates all filed here. 
When I do my weekly planning on the weekend, I take my flylady calendar and add the upcoming weeks events using the school calendars section of my household notebook.  I also list on the calendar if the kids will be catching the late bus to get home, or other notes like, needs money for lunch out on an away game.  This way I can make a reminder for it and be prepared. 
I have a habit in place to look at the calendar every night before going to bed, and again each morning while we are all eating breakfast.  This helps us stay on top of our busy schedule, and never forget important events.  The kids also know that if I am expecting them to come home, and they need to stay after school, they will have to call and let me know any changes.
Having everyone on the same page keeps things running smoothly.  Making habits incorporating these tools is what makes everything run on auto pilot.  When implementing these habits it may seem like a bit of prep work, but it is instantly gratifying when you see things running smoothly.  It is well worth any trouble that it may take, trust me.
I   look forward to hearing any comments that you might have.

Technorati Tags: Scheduling,Calendars,Back to School,Planning ahead,Events,Organize,Online Tools,Family,Busy

Getting Frugal: Fabric Book Covers

With a new school year, comes covering books.  I chose to use fabric that I have on hand to cover the text books this year.  I refuse to pay $8 for 6 book covers, that I know sometimes don’t even last the entire year! 
I have accumulated fabric from my mother and my grandmother, and even extra from projects that I never got to.  It has been sitting in storage, and I refuse to throw it away, because there is going to come a time when I am going to need it for something. 
        
Well the time has come to use what we have!  LOL!
    
         
    
              
     
      
     
    
   
         
   
    
  
  
  
  
If you try this project or have any questions, please leave a comment.  I appreciate your correspondence. 

BuzzNet Tags: Sewing,Fabric,Book Covers,Back to School,Frugal,Crafts,Saving Money

Getting It Together: Back to School #2, Preparations.

Wow!   I was getting school supplies, and school clothes shopping out of the way, then Hurricane Irene decided to take away our power for four days, all while transitioning the kids into their school routines.  Sorry it has been a bit since my last post, this is a really busy time for us.

We ended up doing all of our school shopping this year, online.  This is quite unusual for us, we usually like to make an event of it and have a great day with the kids.  My husband was working so much overtime, it just didn’t fit into our schedules this year.  It worked out well, I only had to make one reorder from Kmart.com. 

Living in such a remote location, power outages are a semi annual event, being prepared is essential.  We usually experience the long term power outages during the winter, from ice storms.  Periods with loss of power in the warmer months, we aren’t accustomed to.  This time we had to worry about our freezer and refrigerator food spoiling, having a generator was definitely necessary.  We did fine, having family around to help was nice.

The kids are now days away from starting school again.  We are preparing for this by:

• Starting them back on their school bedtimes (about 2 weeks away from the start of school).
• Having them wake up at the time they would need to be up for school (about a week from the start of school).
• Double checking that they have all of their needed school supplies.
• Creating a routine with the them that they will need to use once school starts.
• Collecting ideas for quick and easy breakfasts, and school lunches.
• Washing up any school clothes that were put into storage, along with seasonal jackets.
• Scheduling any doctors or dentist appointments needed.  Getting any immunizations that the school is requiring for admissions.
• Filling out enrollment paperwork, or other paperwork that the school is requiring for the upcoming year.
• Attending any orientations at the school.
• Making sure that any assignments that may be due from over the summer have been completed.
• Getting haircuts for the new school year.
• Going over the updated school rules with the them, and taking note to how we can comply with them.
• Adding the school calendar to our family calendar.  (staff days, holidays, special days that require us to make other preparations and recesses.)

We usually finish the above list and then celebrate with both of our families for a few Labor Day celebrations.  Due to the power outage last week, we are a bit behind on some of our preparations, so we have bowed out of our normal labor day functions.

My oldest daughter will be starting 7th grade, my youngest daughter will be starting 4th grade, and my son will be starting Pre-K.  It should be an interesting year, but being prepared and starting the year off right helps relieve some of the first day jitters.  Each of them know what they can expect and aren’t overly frightened to start school.  If anything, I am frightened of the paper clutter that is going to come home with them daily!!!  EEEKS!   Oh yeah sorry (recycle bin, lol).

Getting It Together: Back to School #1, Shopping Plan.

It is about that time again and our kids have to start school in about 2 1/2 weeks.  The task of shopping for school is always very stressful to us and it takes a lot to face it sometimes.  UGH!  But I have a schedule to uphold, and have to get these kids ready before the stores run out of clothes and supplies to choose from.  This is how we create our shopping plan for back to school.


Clothes:
About a week ago we inventoried all of their fall and winter clothes.  We had them try everything on, then we tallied up what they had.  This gave us an idea of what gaps we had so we could create a list of what the kids need for school clothes shopping.  I created a worksheet in our word processor to help us streamline this.  Keeping this on hand will allow for easy annual inventories, and keep you organized.

The clothes that didn’t fit or were too old (or they just had way too many of…) went into 2 piles.  One to donate to Good Will and the other was items that were not good enough to give away and we threw them out or chose to reuse them as rags.

From this tally sheet I made a list for shopping.  I arranged it by the departments we would be shopping in, then by the items needed then by the person.  This way we would be first directed to the correct department and wouldn’t be having to go back and forth, searching for things.


Supplies:
Our school sends out lists with the children’s required school supplies at the end of the previous school year.  It is such a joy… to try to keep track of this list over the summer.   LOL!  Anyway, I place it in my Household binder so it won’t get lost. 

I take all of their lists and I go through all of our extra supplies that we have on hand (from previous shopping trips, and from what came back from last year that was adequate to reuse).  This generally takes care of most of the needed school supplies.  Then I start setting up their backpacks with the supplies that we do have on hand.  Again, like with the clothes inventory worksheet, I just have to fill in the gaps where we are lacking. 

From what we are missing I create a new list, and set it with the clothes shopping list in my household binder and wait for the right day to go shopping.  Prep work is now complete.


Having a plan and a budget in mind will really help you stay on track.  My children know that they are allowed to choose the items we shop for from the list, and from the store that we agree upon.  Children need choices, but families need limits.  It really isn’t responsible of a parent to spend all of the months money on clothes and not be able to buy food or pay the bills, just because they didn’t want to limit their children’s clothing allowance. 

Planning is key.  If you have any ideas or comments that you would like to add, I would love to hear from you.   My next Back to School segment will be about any other preparations that might be needed before the school year starts.