Lori Seaborg

Some Tips On Making It When You're Broke

I wrote the following last September (2004), when my man lost his job and Hurricane Ivan hit us, within 2 weeks of each other.  As we were spinning, literally and mentally, I learned a few things and wrote them in the below article: 

 

A side benefit to being frugal with money (ie. broke) occured recently when the children wanted to decorate cupcakes. We'd run out of sprinkles but my!, they were amazed that I could make colored sugar. They kept hollering, "Look! Mama MADE this sugar! Look, it's colored!" I've learned a few other things about being frugal in the house in this hard time:

 

* Buying generic brands in everything is frustrating to me, but it has also introduced me to a few alternate products. The store-brand Saltines in one store, for example, taste like the Premium brand.

 

* Laundry gets just as clean on a longer cycle with half the detergent called for on the box.

 

* Dishes get just as clean on half the detergent, as long as you rinse them well first.

 

* Breakfast is cheaper by far without cold cereal. Cereal uses too much expensive milk! I've been making muffins, pancakes, cinnamon rolls, etc. (my 9yo said, "Mom, I don't know why, but our breakfasts have been really good lately!")

 

* The children don't need prepared snack foods like Cheez-Its and Rold Gold pretzels. They will keep content as long as they have something when they are hungry.

 

* Free, fresh eggs from our chickens are awfully useful.

 

* Margarine, even though I'm not happy to have it instead of butter, at least spreads more easily when cold.

 

* The chickens can live - and thrive - on only table scraps (thanks to the baby, we have plenty!) and free ranging (that's a term for letting them loose).

 

*  All scrap paper should be saved.  The toddler (2) doesn't notice that one side is used when she is in a scribbling mood. 

 

*  Children are immensely amused with scissors, magazines, a glue stick, and paper.  Tell them to create a book by folding the paper  in half and stapling it (or using a hole punch and yarn) on the folded side.

 

* People love homemade cards from the children, made from the above.

 

*  Meat does not have to be a main dish.

 

*  Rice & beans or pasta can be an inexpensive main dish, with meat as the "seasoning" or as the side item.

 

*  Water and microfiber cleaning cloths (.99 at WalMart in the automotive section) can polish any window or stainless steel, and can clean any smooth surface of grime - without expensive, unhealthy chemicals.

 

* A garden is an important thing to plant each year. You never know when life will throw you a curve ball. 

 

* Hospitality is still important, even when broke.  I have been more blessed by going to a poor gal's home and experiencing her generosity with her homebaked goods and tea, than I ever have in a rich gal's home who can afford the fancy things she offers. 

 

* When you give away extra things generously, God will always bless you back.  I have seen this many, many times. 

(Originally published on my 2005-2008 Keeping the Home blog)

The Heart of the Home

"Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house." Psalm 128:3

 

She - the wife - who is the heart of the house, making it a home, she is the reward to a man who fears the Lord! (Enough children to fill a table is also part of the reward, if you read on. I'm sure your husband is glad to know that one.)

 

For some reason, it warms my heart to know:

 

1. I am part of my man's reward.

2. God considers me to be the Heart of the home.

3. My place - the point of my focus - is to be at home.

 

Are you being the kind of gal who makes a good reward? Is your husband really thanking God for this present that was given to him, or is he saying, "Uh, no thanks!"?

(Originally published on my 2005-2008 Keeping the Home blog)

Pizza Man Pizza Crust

I've been a bit chatty (or, posty) today (scroll down for those posts), but thought I'd add in one more recipe for Recipe Day.  I probably can't blog tomorrow, because we're going to watch our hometown Navy Blue Angels fly here over Pensacola Beach.  It's always an exciting, very patriotic weekend for this area. 

 

Tim (dh) has been the general manager of several pizza restaurants over the years.  He could eat it every day, I am not exaggerating. We make pizza once a week at our house.

Here is our favorite crust. Tim likes the crust because it is soft and has a "hand-tossed" thickness. I like the crust because the recipe is easy to memorize and easy to make. No rising is needed.

2 cups warm water

2 Tablespoons yeast

2 teaspoons sugar

Put the above in a bowl and leave alone for about 5 minutes, or until foamy.

Add:

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup oil 

Flour

Stir the salt and oil into the yeast mixture. Add the flour, half cup at a time until it is not too sticky to knead. Knead in more flour, until the dough is smooth and elastic (about 4-5 cups total?), like a bread dough.

This makes TWO LARGE pizzas, or THREE MEDIUM pizzas, or about 10 PERSONAL pizzas.

At this point, Tim cuts the dough into half for two large pizzas. He immediately "slaps out the pie," which is his Pizza Man term for flattening the dough into a pizza shape. He tosses the dough into the air, twirls it around his fist, and pokes and stretches it into shape. When he is not around, I have to slap out the dough. I am not nearly as interesting to watch with my awkward movements that break rips into it frequently. If you don't have your own personal Pizza Man, you can still get the job done. Just somehow get it into a pizza shape.

Place the pizza crust onto a pizza pan (we use a stone for a soft crust and a metal sheet for a harder crust).

Bake at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes. You are prebaking the crust so it won't get as soggy when the sauce and toppings go onto it.

Now you're on your own with sauce and toppings. You'll need to bake the pizza again for about 10-15 more minutes. The cheese will bubble and become slightly brown when the pizza is done.

This pizza is wonderful the second day, too, either cold or microwaved.

Mmmmm, mmmm.

 

 

by Lori Seaborg

Some Tips on Being Broke

 

I wrote the following last September, when Tim (dh) lost his job and Hurricane Ivan hit us, within 2 weeks of each other.  As we were spinning, literally and mentally, I learned a few things and wrote them in the below article: 

 

A side benefit to being frugal with money (ie. broke) occured recently when the children wanted to decorate cupcakes. We'd run out of sprinkles but my!, they were amazed that I could make colored sugar. They kept hollering, "Look! Mama MADE this sugar! Look, it's colored!" I've learned a few other things about being frugal in the house in this hard time:

 

* Buying generic brands in everything is frustrating to me, but it has also introduced me to a few alternate products. The store-brand Saltines in one store, for example, taste like the Premium brand.

 

* Laundry gets just as clean on a longer cycle with half the detergent called for on the box.

 

* Dishes get just as clean on half the detergent, as long as you rinse them well first.

 

* Breakfast is cheaper by far without cold cereal. Cereal uses too much expensive milk! I've been making muffins, pancakes, cinnamon rolls, etc. (my 9yo said, "Mom, I don't know why, but our breakfasts have been really good lately!")

 

* The children don't need prepared snack foods like Cheez-Its and Rold Gold pretzels. They will keep content as long as they have something when they are hungry.

 

* Free, fresh eggs from our chickens are awfully useful.

 

* Margarine, even though I'm not happy to have it instead of butter, at least spreads more easily when cold.

 

* The chickens can live - and thrive - on only table scraps (thanks to the baby, we have plenty!) and free ranging (that's a term for letting them loose).

 

*  All scrap paper should be saved.  The toddler (2) doesn't notice that one side is used when she is in a scribbling mood. 

 

*  Children are immensely amused with scissors, magazines, a glue stick, and paper.  Tell them to create a book by folding the paper  in half and stapling it (or using a hole punch and yarn) on the folded side.

 

* People love homemade cards from the children, made from the above.

 

*  Meat does not have to be a main dish.

 

*  Rice & beans or pasta can be an inexpensive main dish, with meat as the "seasoning" or as the side item.

 

*  Water and microfiber cleaning cloths (.99 at WalMart in the automotive section) can polish any window or stainless steel, and can clean any smooth surface of grime - without expensive, unhealthy chemicals.

 

* A garden is an important thing to plant each year. You never know when life will throw you a curve ball. 

 

* Hospitality is still important, even when broke.  I have been more blessed by going to a poor gal's home and experiencing her generosity with her homebaked goods and tea, than I ever have in a rich gal's home. 

 

* When you give away extra things generously, God will always bless you back.  I have seen this many, many times. 

 

by Lori Seaborg

 

T-Shirt Dresses

Earlier this week, I asked for an inexpensive and easy-to-make dress pattern for my 7-year-old who suddenly wanted to wear dresses outside (don't you sometimes wish we lived in those frilly dress days?).  Today, I was so pleased to read this post by Tara Schaffer of The Ladies Home Journal blog.  She gives instructions on how to make an inexpensive and severely cute t-shirt dress.  Head on over there and learn for yourself!

 

by Lori Seaborg

Stuffed Jumbo Shells Recipe

 

Gena is hungry and is asking for food posts.  I have almost no recipes that are original, but I know how to follow one!  Here is what I made yesterday: 

 

This recipe comes from the back of the box of Barilla Jumbo (pasta) Shells:

 

Barilla Stuffed Shells

 

Cook 1/2 package of Jumbo Shells (about 18 shells); drain.  Preheat oven to 350degrees.  In large bowl, beat egg.  Stir in 15oz.  container of ricotta, 1-3/4 cups of shredded mozzarella, 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan, and 2 T fresh parsley or oregano (or whatever you have; or 1-1/2 t. dried)

 

Next:

 

1.  Spread 3/4 jar (26oz.) spaghetti sauce into bottom of 13x9 baking dish.

 

2.  Fill cooked shells with ricotta mixture.  Arrange filled shells in baking dish, filled side up.

 

3.  Pour remaining 1/4 jar of the sauce over shells. Top with 1/4 cup mozzarella and 1/4 cup Parmesan

 

Bake, covered with foil, until bubbly, about 45 minutes.  Uncover and bake 5 minutes more, or until cheese is melted.  Recipe makes 6 servings.

 

Note:  Sometimes I double this recipe, cooking the entire box of Jumbo Shells. It freezes very well. 

 

 

by Lori Seaborg

The Heart of the Home

"Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house." Psalm 128:3

 

She - the wife - who is the heart of the house, making it a home, she is the reward to a man who fears the Lord! (Enough children to fill a table is also part of the reward, if you read on. I'm sure your husband is glad to know that one.)

 

For some reason, it warms my heart to know:

 

1. I am part of Tim's reward.

2. God considers me to be the Heart of the home.

3. My place - the point of my focus - is to be at home.

 

Are you being the kind of gal who makes a good reward? Is your husband really thanking God for this present that was given to him, or is he saying, "Uh, no thanks!"?

 

- by Lori Seaborg

Hermit Crabbing

 

Hermit Crabbing on the Gulf Coast

(how lovely would it be to spend a day like that!)

(Originally published on my 2005-2008 Keeping the Home blog - photo taken by me)

STUCK at Home?!?

 

"I don't know how you do it," Janie tells me recently, "I couldn't stand to be stuck at home like that."

 

"Will you be quitting work now that John got his promotion?" I ask Deb.

"No, I don't want to be stuck at home all the time," she says.

 

"STUCK at home"? Few three-word sentence fragments annoy me more than those three words put together.

 

Why are we who choose to be home perceived as "stuck" at home?

 

Aren't we the ones who have the most freedom?

 

We can get up at 10am, wear no makeup, watch t.v., walk around in grubby clothes, ignore the kids and deal with the consequences later, stay up until 2am without concern about an early morning alarm, see how long the baby can go without her diaper leaking, eat ice cream at breakfast, doughnuts at noon, and feed the kids PB&;J sandwiches for every meal.

 

Or..., we can choose to see our baby's first walk, change every one of her thousands of diapers so we don't miss out on the interaction we get with her when we do, read and study to wisen up our brains, sell something extra on eBay, practice baking and gardening and knitting and Spanish lessons, take the girls to ballet and the boys to baseball, read a book aloud to the kids after lunch and have a cup of tea at 3pm.

 

Over the past 9 years, I have been a working-outside-the-home mom, a working-at-home mom, and a stay-at-home mom (unpaid work). Of all of them, it is the stay-at-home mom who gets the greatest disdain from the outside world.

 

But don't you worry about her.

 

She owns all of the 1,440 minutes in each of her days. And she can spend each of those minutes as she wills, with no boss, no schedule but her own, and all the freedom every American loves to have.

 

If she gets a hankering for a bologna sandwich, she can go to the grocery store and get the ingredients. If she wants to see a movie, she can load the kids into the van and take them. She can attend a craft show on Friday afternoon and a Grand Opening pre-sale on Thursday morning.   

 

She has been given the freedom to choose how to fill her days.

 

If having that kind of freedom is being "stuck," then I am so glad I'm one of those poor souls who are "stuck at home."

 

by Lori Seaborg

 

Photo Day: What Hurricane Ivan Did

 

 

We live on Fish River on the Gulf Coast of the Florida/Alabama border.  This is our river upstream. It is a wild and beautiful river, with a pure sand bottom. It is winter in this photo, so imagine how green it is in the summer!

Hurricane Ivan did not cause any damage in this view.  But look....

 

 

Hurricane Ivan tore HUGE decades-old cedars and ripped them into shards.  There are over 22 trees in the river in this area.  The hurricane spawned a tornado that came through here, not all that far from our house where we were weathering out the storm.  Even 9 months later, when I walk down to the river and see this mess, I sometimes get teary.  Not because of the trees.  Although I'm sad to lose them, I know that's the way of God's nature.  I get sad because I remember that night so well...the sounds of those trees cracking, the meteorologist's voice on the radio, the darkness when the power went out, the transformers that blew up with loud bangs like firecrackers, and the wind.  The endless wind.  

 

Although I love great displays of nature, I am still overwhelmed by what fury Hurricane Ivan held. 

 

We are so small. God is so big. 

 

by Lori Seaborg

Photo Day: Gulf Shores, Alabama

 

Hermit Crabbing in Gulf Shores, Alabama (near where we live)

 

 

Sunset at Gulf Shores, Alabama

 

 

by Lori Seaborg

Oh, Great...Mommy Guilt Again

Did I just write about Mommy Guilt only 3 days ago?  I cannot believe it was me who wrote those words, because today I received it in a three-hour dose.  I do a LOT, but nothing well.  That's what I said to myself today. 

 

The 10-year-old was in pajamas until noon because he couldn't find shorts to wear; the 2-year-old is going through potty-training and had an "accident" on the kitchen floor; I tried making a nice lunch for my man but it took an hour longer than anyone's stomach planned on waiting; the new puppy was yapping loudly for attention that I didn't have time to give; our luggage was still packed from our trip 6 days ago; my bed wasn't made; the floors were a mess; there was laundry to do; all the children were being disobedient; and I didn't get my God time in.

 

So I finally crumbled and said to dh, "I do so many things and I want to be perfect at them all. But I don't do anything well." 

 

Do you ever feel like that?  Overwhelmed with all that you're doing, and even more overwhelmed with all that needs to be done. Finally, you reach a crying point (or a yelling point).  You feel like a failure.  So Satan gets your ear.  He tells you that you're a failure and that you're a really bad mom. 

 

Do you really think you are? 

 

I know that you're not. 

 

God knows that you're not. 

(Originally published on my 2005-2008 Keeping the Home blog)