Small town Tuesday: unexpected birthday guests

This is my weekly installment of Small Town Tuesday. If you have a small-town story (with pictures is even better! ) please send me a message at vash_ii@yahoo.com or on Facebook.  

We recently had a little party for Brady's 8th birthday. We invited family, his 2nd grade classmates and some other friends outside of his grade.

But we ended up with a few unexpected guests in a way I imagine wouldn't happen often in a larger city.

Birthday party chaos!

We had the party in a building we have up town. We use it for storage, family get-togethers and parties. It's very close to our house, so the day before the party Brady and I were hauling plates, cups, toys, cookies, drinks etc. from our house up to the building.

"What are you guys doing?" came a voice from down Main Street.

There were four girls. I knew one of them. She used to be in Brady's class but had moved to a city 30 miles away. I guess she was in town visiting cousins.

Brady knew most of them and some still went to his school. They ranged in age from 8 up to early teens. They all looked similar, hence my idea they're sisters and cousins.

They  hung out there the whole time we went back and forth, back and forth, carrying supplies.

At the end, one of the girls said, "Can we come to the party?"

I couldn't see any reason why not, so I said, "Sure." I thought they might forget or their parents would say no, but even if they did come, we had plenty to share.

To my surprise, all four girls showed up to the party. I have no idea if their parents knew they came. They ate food and drank pop and played with all the other kids and just in general had a great time.

It worried me a little that they were unsupervised, but we all kept an eye on them. They were the last to leave.

It made for a fun party and Brady was quite happy to have them there. Another unusual little slice of life in our tiny town.

5 cool 31-day series: ADHD to wardrobe to husbands

Last month, several bloggers participated in a challenge to post for 31 days on a specific subject. The idea of doing that was too overwhelming for me, but I really enjoyed several that I came across during the month and wanted to share them.

I thought they all had interesting and practical ideas throughout their series. And here they are: 

1. Rochelle Barlow's Learning American Sign Language. This series stops at Day 16 but it was so interesting and so helpful that I had to share it!  

2. Creative Home Keeper's 31 days to a wardrobe you'll actually love. Victoria's posts inspired me to go through all of my clothes and purge and be intentional about what I wear.

3. Serving Joyfully's 31 days of loving my husband intentionally really helped me see my husband in a different light and change the way I respond to him. It was a great reminder of how my words and attitude can set the tone for our entire household.

4. Beth Cranford shared 31 days to find your ideal business. She has several interesting ideas for making money through self-employment. 

5. And Nerdy Mom had a great series on 31 days of ADHD. I just think in our world today you can't know enough about ADHD. If you aren't parenting a child diagnosed with this disorder it's likely you will have a family member or friend who experiences it themselves or with their child, or someone in your work place or school. I think it's worth learning more.

I can tell these gals put a ton of work into their posts. I am in awe of what they have accomplished and am inspired for my own blogging future. If you have a minute, go check them out!

The joy of reading & new teaching techniques

Brady had an "aha" reading moment the other day that tells me he will not give up on reading.

We purchased the book to the left, October Ogre - which incidentally is about a small town mystery - from the school. I read it to him at bed over several nights.

On the last night when I finished it, he sat back and said, "Awwww. It's over." He sounded so sad and I thought YES, yes kid, I know just what that feeling is like.

That let down at the end of a really great book. The feeling that propels you to pick up another, and another, and another.

Then he said, "Will you read it to me again from the beginning?" Of course! I told him then that someday he would be able to read great books like that to himself as well.

The next weekend we started something new. For 15 minutes, we sit side by side on the couch. He reads a book of his own and I read a book or magazine of mine. He told me, "You know that really was kind of fun."

Another tip comes from his reading teacher. Her and I keep in contact through email and, given his love of numbers and tangible expressions, she made a chart so he could see his progress as the year goes on. He LOVED that and it seemed to fuel his motivation to improve more.

If you have a reluctant reader, perhaps giving them a visual display of their progress in speed, accuracy, sight words, minutes read, reading level, whatever, just might help.

Stuffed bell peppers recipe

I have to say off the bat, I am so excited that all the peppers pictured here were from my garden! It just took me this long to post it!

This recipe is a slight variation of this Betty Crocker Stuffed Pepper recipe.

Stuffed peppers

4 large bell peppers (used 6 medium ones)
1 lb ground meat (I used venison)
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 clove garlic
2 cup spaghetti sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 tsp salt
Black pepper to taste

Cut thin slice from stem end of each bell pepper to remove top. Remove seeds and membranes, rinse. If necessary, cut thin slice from bottom of each pepper so they stand up straight.

In large pot, add enough water to cover peppers. Heat to boiling, add peppers and cook about 2 minutes, drain.

Cook ground meat and onion in skillet over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until browned, drain. Stir in rice, salt, garlic and 1 cup of the sauce. Cook until hot. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Stuff peppers with mixture. Stand them upright in un-greased 8-inch square glass baking dish. Pour remaining sauce over peppers. I also put any remaining meat/rice mixture all around the base of the peppers with some sauce on it.

Cover tightly with foil. Bake 10 minutes. Uncover and bake about 15 minutes longer or until peppers are tender, sprinkling with cheese the last 5 minutes until it melts. They tasted great.

The whole meal involved cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers from the garden, and venison my husband hunted. Somehow that made it taste even better!

Small town Tuesday: An All Day Halloween!

This is my weekly installment of Small Town Tuesday. If you have a small-town story (with pictures is even better! ) please send me a message at vash_ii@yahoo.com or on Facebook.

* A quick update: Our church's chicken noodle dinner raised $2,300 to help a teenage boy with brain cancer. It just amazes me what a few people can do. 

And another note, from now on I'll be posting two days a week, on Tuesday and Thursday. I'll do Small Town Tuesday every other week. Thanks for being here! 

Holidays can take a different shape in a small town sometimes, perhaps because things are more laid back within the borders of a little place.

I grew up in a town of about 45,000 people and I remember walking around my own neighborhood on Halloween but then driving to other neighborhoods. I don't recall knowing most of the people whose doors I knocked on back then. 

In our little city this year, Halloween was an all-day affair. In the morning, my son's elementary school gathered in town to parade up to the nursing home and around to local businesses. 

I then volunteered to lead the craft in his classroom which was a total blast! Gosh I love working with kids. 

Then it was around town to knock on doors. In one case Brady told the occupants, "I used to live in this house," which we did before hubby and I were married. In another case, when wonderful grocery store lady's two choices were - Reese's peanut butter cups which Brady does NOT like (how can this be?) or Snickers which has egg - she invited him into her kitchen to rummage in her candy drawer for fruit snacks.

He told our banker on his front steps, "When Mom was talking to the grocery store lady I kept whistling while they were talking and then they both frowned so I stopped."

To which banker guy said, "Oh you should have whistled louder!"

Brady loved that. 

Every group of kids we pass includes someone we know. "Hi Brady!" Sometimes we knock on a door and say, "Oh hi. We didn't know you lived HERE!" 

Then it was off to a spook walk 10 miles away where we always see one of Brady's best friends who helps her mom run a booth there. 

Here are some photos from our very full, very fun small town Halloween. 

On parade. Look, he's Boba Fett! From Star Wars! With a jet pack! I'm so proud :)

Awwww, he made a cyclops mummy.

Who can resist walking through leaves?

Headed down Main Street toward home.

"I'm a hippie, Brady." "What's a hippie?" "Well, someone who likes veggies and nature and peace and love." "Well that's you already, you can dress UP as that."

Happy Halloween! He carved this himself with just a little help from Mom :)

Free $10 to Pizza Hut & Bath & Body Works item

A few years back, I discovered if you work a few freebie deals it can be like Christmas all the time when you go to get your mail. And this is not any kind of sponsored, review or affiliate post, I just love these two programs and wanted to share :)

Here are two things I received in the last month.

1. A free $10 gift card to Pizza Hut. This is such a treat for hubby and I as we don't order out a lot. I got this by using MyPoints and building up enough points in a few months to order this. All I ever really do is click through links, sign up for a few things, use their search bar and maybe take a few surveys.

2. A free full-size product from Bath & Body Works. They are a great company to keep an eye on. Often they will have a Facebook offer where you print a coupon for a free travel sized item. I signed up for their newsletter and gave them my email in store and I periodically get discount cards or in this case a totally free coupon. Anything you can sign up for with them, I would totally recommend doing it! 

Another wonderful way to cook okra

If you've been here for awhile and read posts about cooking and gardening, know I'm The Queen of Okra. I'm telling you, I think it is the most under-rated vegetable (or is it a fruit, I'm so confused since my pumpkin research) in the universe.

A lot of people outside of the southern U.S. just don't know about it or aren't inclined to try it. But I'm telling you, it is really tasty. I'll be researching its health benefits for an upcoming post.

Back in the summer, I posted this crispy fried okra recipe. Angel over at Household Savvy commented that sometimes she just sautes okra in the skillet. I just had to try it.

I've also stewed it, pickled it, put it in gumbo. Regina over At the Lake also posted this recipe on frying it with cornmeal only. I need to try that one too! 

But the sauteing method turned out glorious. In fact, my husband - who grew up on breaded fried okra - said he prefers it this way because it is lighter. I have to admit I do too. But there's another reason I like it better.

It is SO much easier. Just slice it, toss it in the skillet with a little olive or canola oil, add spices like salt, pepper, garlic and Head Country and cook it for maybe 10 minutes. Then let it drain a bit on some paper towels.

It is awesome. Thanks Angel for the idea!

Small Town Tuesday: 22 ways you might be a small-towner...

This is my weekly installment of Small Town Tuesday. If you have a small-town story (with pictures is even better! ) please send me a message at vash_ii@yahoo.com or on Facebook.

Small town life is unique. It's a close style of living with others that was foreign in the big cities I once called home. 

There are things I experience here I had never experienced before in my life. Some good, some not so good. Below is a list of 22 things I think just might make you a small-towner...

• You have at least four distinct from-the-car waves. Here are mine: 

1. Full-bodied back-and-forth enthusiastic for people I know really well.
2. Open hand, lifted up but not waving back and forth for people I know only fairly well.
3. Hand on the steering wheel with four fingers raised for acquaintances or strangers.
4. Hand on steering wheel and one finger raised if it's somebody I'm not feeling particularly motivated to wave at. I need to work on that one. 

• You have ever wondered why someone didn't wave at YOU. Are they mad? Did they not see me? Were they just distracted? Did they not recognize me? Oy. Anymore I just wave and don't look to see if they wave back so I don't have to worry about it, ha! 

• You're about 2 degrees from being connected to anyone in town, maybe several times over. For example, our next door neighbor is also my son's PE teacher and her father was my husband's coach. Her brother also substitutes for my kid's class. Her son is one grade above Brady and her daughter will be in kindergarten soon too.

• On a related note, you are cautious when mentioning someone because you don't know who the person you're talking to is related to, works with or is close friends with. Not that I go around talking bad about people, but you just don't want something you say misconstrued and repeated! 

• You've ever gone on Facebook and learned some horrifying thing going on in town and immediately reacted to it. In my case it was THERE'S A PRISON ESCAPEE IN TOWN! Which turned out to be false. And also a lost kindergartner on a freezing cold night. My husband joined the town-wide search. Sadly it was true due to neglect but he turned out to be fine and at a neighbor's house. 

• Festivals, potlucks, hog roasts and similar events are big time excitement! Anything different to do in town is a treat.

• You have ever raced up town because the grocery store, liquor store, post office, restaurant or other businesses was JUST ABOUT TO CLOSE! Missing it means waiting until tomorrow or driving a long way.  

• Going to your dentist, eye doctor, physician, karate lesson, swim lesson, the Wal-mart and many other things requires a drive down a long highway. You won't find these things in town.  

• You've ever looked at the night sky and been blown away by stars you didn't know existed when you lived in the big city.  

• Any trip up town means taking care with your appearance because you WILL see someone you know. 

• You say "up town" like it's a big deal but it's only a block away from your house. 

• You know way more than you ever wanted to about everyone in town and you wonder what they know about you. 

• You have ever felt like an outsider :( 

• The town mayor is your cousin. Your kiddo also plays at recess with his grand-daughter who is 2 grades below him. 

• You sometimes forget the world outside the borders of your little haven exist. 

• You sometimes miss the world outside the borders of your little haven, ha! 

• You have seen a deer, fox, coyote, armadillo, raccoon, skunk, bunny or other wild creature wandering around town without a care in the world.

• Or you've woken up at 3 a.m. to hear a pack of coyotes yipping VERY close to your house and you fear for your cat who once came home really torn up, probably from a coyote. He doesn't wander far anymore. 

• Sometimes, it is so quiet you wonder if you're the only person in the world! 

• You never utter, "I don't even know my neighbors!" Everyone in town is so close by we're all neighbors. If I had a problem, there are at least a dozen people I could go to for help within walking distance. Hubby once enlisted, within 30 minutes of calling around, half a dozen guys to move a historic heavy wooden bar from the senior center to the old hotel in snowy weather.

• You know the name of the owner of every single business in town and the name of your postmaster, grocer, firemen, policeman and highway patrol, newspaper publisher, pastors of all three churches, etc.

•  You have donated money to help someone you know well and probably more than once.

My favorite easy salsa recipe

If I had to choose only one food to have forever, my favorite-est thing, it would be chips and salsa. I could eat them every single day.

No chips? Just use saltines!

And ever since my college roommate gave me an easy salsa recipe, that has been my go-to method for 20 years. I make it several times a year whether I buy canned tomatoes or use my garden ones. You can make it with yellow or even green tomatoes!

It reminds me of restaurant style. 

Roommate Chari's salsa recipe

2 cans whole tomatoes (mostly drained, though I save the liquid and freeze it for soups)
1 can diced green chiles
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Tbsp dried cilantro or 40 to 60 fresh cilantro leaves (about a 1/3 to 1/2 a bunch)
1/2 to 2/3 small onion
Salt and pepper to taste
A splash of lemon juice

* If you want spicy, add a fresh jalapeno or a couple Tbsp of jarred, or if you're really adventurous a little bit of habanero.

Blend in blender or food processor until desired consistency. 

What I learned from my spending challenge

Back on Oct. 1, I posted that I wanted to start recording everything I bought with my spend-how-I-like cash during a two-week time. I stuck to it pretty well and had a list of where it all went.

Here are the things I learned:

1. I spend a fair bit on Brady-related things. I knew that, but it was maybe a bit more than I thought. In this two-week time it was stuff for his prize store, snacks when we had to make after-school trips into a larger town 20 or 30 mins away, a DS game he earned through good behavior, and the trip to pumpkin patch and corn maze.
2. I spend a lot on extra groceries. I try and stick to a base grocery budget of $60 per week. But in between I use my cash to buy extra stuff on sale or that we want. 
3. I like to buy a protein bar in the afternoons on the way home from work. This is how I avoid my afternoon slump and sugar craving! 
4. Some goes to church every Sunday, not enough probably, but some at least. 
5. A car wash cost me $3.25! 
6. I am happy to report I have started buying Christmas presents early to avoid the crunch/stress/rush. I bought 3 for hubby already.

So, I feel okay about where the money went. However, if I am wanting to sock away some cash each month for a larger purchase like really good new boots or a sewing machine, I'll need to find a place to cut.

If I'm going to continue with the protein bar kick, I probably better buy them in a larger amount at the grocery store rather than at Casey's every day where they are nearly $2! Yikes! And I need to focus more on the Dollar Tree for Brady's prize store items.

I really like keeping a record of this and will keep doing it.

How about you? Did you keep or have you kept a record of spending, and what did you learn?