The Great Family Camping Adventure...pt2 (finally)

It's the moment you've all been waiting for! (maybe) (I have been anyway).

As you may have noticed I've been gone for a while. I'm easily distracted. And I don't really like to type. But I do like to yabber incessantly to no one in particular and blogging makes that sooo easy. I suppose it would be easier if I could just let everyone hear the ramblings in my head. Then I wouldn't forget them by the time I got to paper and I wouldn't have to type. Of course, then I may be sedated and locked away somewhere, or else have no friends at all, because I'm a nutter. So maybe it's best that I just improve my typing skills.... moving on....

In case you have forgotten, our story left off with me, the non-camper, insisting that we will be camping, we will do it in our own front yard, and we will like it too, dag nabbit! (Here is part one, in case you need a refresher.)

the tiny white and black speck is my 'dog' Poppy

Was I totally mad!? I hate tent camping. I haven't gone in 12 years, we have no airbed to make the ground more bearable and the mosquitoes in our yard will pick you up and carry you back to feed their horrible little bloodsucking babies like some tiny Jurassic vampiric monsters. After drenching ourselves in bug spray and still being eaten I was seriously considering calling it quits. Or investing in something with lots of DEET. (I restrained myself on both accounts.)

We begin setting up camp in the meadow (aka "front yard"), the 2 older children helping Papa set up the tents while the 2 younger ones entertained themselves. I think I just milled around and took pictures for the most part. I don't remember being at all helpful. I do remember being obsessed with the horrible little bugs.


We brought much of the camp gear to our site and got set up for the night. All of the children were in the large tent with us the 1st night (it had started to rain at one point so we just threw all the junk in the little tent before we got to finish organizing it.) It was a little crowded and a little annoying with all the giggling going on on the other side of the tent.



After we set up our tiny little patio fire pit in the meadow and lit our campfire. We cooked a traditional cruddy family camping dinner of hot dogs and s'mores over our little fire and by the end of the 1st night the girls were smiling and enjoying their treats. And as a bonus, I get to pee in a real toilet, in a clean, familiar bathroom. We did not, however, shower until we 'got home' from our trip. We also didn't let the kids stay inside the house. Oh, they tried to convince a couple of times to let them watch a DVD,

"No, we're camping. We don't have TV."

"No, you can't use the laptop, we're camping an we didn't bring it."


This resulted in lots of tree climbing. Surprisingly, the baby went to sleep easily and even the girls didn't stay awake all night fighting.

Early in the morning (like 3am early) I awoke and was again filled with appreciation for the 'stay' part of our camping 'staycation'. It was just so nice not to have to stumble down an unfamiliar, most likely booby trapped, little path in the dark dead of night trying to find the nasty latrine. That horribly unpleasant place where, by this time of night, I'd probably have to wait my turn. I'd be right after the gargantuan hairy spider that's using the seat first.

The local coyotes have quieted down, the neighbors chickens are still asleep, but somewhere down the road, presumably on the outskirts of our little town, someone has a cow. This cow is hollerin' at 3 o'clock in the morning. What's up with that? As I drift back to sleep on the uncomfortable ground (despite the huge pile of cushions Gabe has found for me) the cow is still mooing. And at 5am when the chickens wake, the cow is still mooing.

Day 2
Our first camp breakfast is pancakes cooked on the little camp stove. We realize that we didn't pack a bowl to mix them in and lucky us!, we don't have to try to borrow one or buy one somewhere. 'Cause we're in our front yard. Awesome.


Breakfast was delicious. Gabe has packed a library book about tying knots, and a bit of rope. Despite my concerns he taught the girls a few of the knots that he's learned. Thankfully, he refrained from teaching them the hangman's knot. Even though they pleaded. (Twisted little monkeys)

I have been talking about a cute little garden canopy that I hoped Gabe would build for me for a couple of years. It's a simple thing, just a pretty bit of fabric and some poles. While I don't have the fabric yet, we do have the poles and an old sheet. Gabe wants to practice some knots he's learned so he finally agrees to build one for me. Just for practice. The poles come from some of the trees that we cleared from the yard, a fraction of the number that need to be cleared. But it's a start.

He had piled them up near an old crate in our garden area and when he began to move them this is what he found...


A hornets nest the size of a dodge ball. And he kinda annoyed them. Thankfully, we have a friend in pest control who offered to take care of it for us. (It was kinda funny watching him . We were safe in the house while he slowly, ever so gently, placed his applicator under the nest, gave it a quick pump of the poison and ran like the blazes to his truck and took off. He did get hit a couple times but I guess he's used to it.) A couple days later Gabe was able to remove the nest and all that was left was a sad little pile of perished pests.


Gabe spent the next couple of hours setting up the canopy. Perfecting the position, adjusting the knots, anchoring the poles and keeping the girls from falling off his ladder. Other than the brief moments on the ground to eat or help with the canopy, the girls spent most of their time in the trees. They talked Gabe into cutting off bits of his rope for them to practice with too and eventually they had a rope swing in one of the bigger trees.



The weather was calm and warm. It had sprinkled off and on since the night before which helped to discourage the mosquitoes from coming out for most of the weekend. That was a lovely bonus as well.


I had packed a bag with paper, pencils, paint and favorite magazines. I had joined a group of artists in a mail art project making 30 unique postcards to send out, and (hopefully) getting as many in return. (I've received about 21 so far.) I had hoped to be inspired by living out in the woods with the bugs and nature and stuff. After the canopy was up I moved my little table over and pulled out my pencils and chalk. Here is the 1st card I made, while sitting outside in 'the woods' enjoying nature...



For our 2nd nights dinner we made soup on the stove. I have to admit it was lacking something. That doesn't happen very often though. Camp food I guess. We finished off the rest of the homemade graham crackers for our s'mores and retired to bed. It's so much easier to go to bed at a decent hour when you're not tied to electricity. This time the girls were in the little tent. Much better.



Day 3
No one had even mentioned South Dakota. The girls were in the trees again and the oldest was smiling and playing instead of being all serious and moody. We opted for pancakes again, instead of eggs, and I snuck some zucchini in them for good measure. The kids gobbled them up and ran for the trees. Gabe lowered the canopy a bit so the shade wasn't so far from the base.



After lunch we cleaned up and started to break camp. We took down the big tent and packed up most of the gear, leaving the canopy and our small tent for the girls to continue using. It stayed up for another month and a half. By 5pm we were mostly cleaned up and a friend had come over with dinner to share so we didn't' have to cook after an 'extremely exhausting' weekend of camping. (Yes, he knew we stayed home. He offered anyway, who am I to argue?)

We were showered (finally), fed (generously), and had had a wonderful family weekend without distraction. Just us. Together.

The Great Family Camping Adventure...pt1

...happened about a month ago. And it did not go at all as planned.

Several months ago my friend K went to South Dakota to visit my friend S.

Crazy Horse in South Dakota

I admit I was a bit jealous because I would have liked to visit too. I've known S since high school after all, when K was only 3 years old. And now my friend is being friends with my other friend and I cant go!? (Actually, I probably could have gone but I didn't make arrangements because I didn't think I could and I really shouldn't be so petty anyway. Its a good thing that my friends like each other, right?)

A few weeks before camping S's sister said her family and K's were going up to go camping with S's family in South Dakota and would we like to go? Yes, we would like to go but we only have 2 sleeping bags and 1 small 2-man tent which we haven't used in 12 years. So no, probably not.


But I really wanted to spend some time with my friends and the kids have never been camping. It's only for 2 days after all, so yes, I guess we will go.

Wait? Where are we gonna sleep? We called around and were able to borrow a large 2 room tent, more sleeping bags, coolers, lanterns, camp stove, the works. Great!

Wait? Who will watch the dogs while we're gone? OK. That's covered.


Wait? How much does it cost? I assume we have to pay for the site or something. Between $2-3 a person we were told. So for 2 nights that's about $30 give or take. I guess we can manage that. (Gabe's business is still quite slow mind you, and we are still living off of savings, which is dwindling rapidly.)

So now, about a week before the trip we are good to go. (All this time and for a long time before I've been mentioning to Gabe that the car is acting up and we need to get it looked at. I mean, I'm just a dumb girl with no knowledge of cars at all but it seems like the transmission is a little wacky. But what do I know? Gabe agrees that it probably need to be looked at but neglects to do anything about it...)

Then Gabe talks to J, S's husband. J informs us that actually the camp sites are 8 persons per site (so we pretty nearly fill that up) and they are $30 per night. Twice as much. Plus we have forgotten that it'll probably take 2 tanks of gas just to get to South Dakota from here. Another $120.

Oh. Deflate. (This is why I tend to avoid telling the kids our plans until we are actually there. The whine and waterworks times 4 is grating to say the least. However, Gabe tends to spill the beans earlier.)

We inform J that because of finances we don't think we can make it. Thanks for thinking of us, we miss you guys. J calls backs a few minutes later and offers to pay the campsite fees for us. Really? Wow! Thank you so much! After discussing it we are back on go with only 2 days til take off.

The girls and I spend parts of 2 days packing and baking cookies and bread and graham crackers for s'mores. Gabe picks up all the camp equipment that we are borrowing and comes home with more than we planned for. ( We have such generous friends!)


Friday morning we have breakfast, pack our last minute items and get the dogs ready for their house guest. Gabe spends an hour or 2 packing up the van and deciding what must go and what need to stay for lack of room. (We need to learn to use the luggage rack on top, the girls could barley breath and it's a 5-6 hour drive.)

Everyone's in the car now except me. I'm giving the kitchen the last once over and grabbing my iced chai for the road. Gabe comes in and says the car wont start. Oh. He tried in vain to jump the van with his dinky little car. No go.

We called S and J to say that although we were ready to go our car was not. Gabe was still hopeful that we could get it moving but I was not so sure.

Two hours later the mechanic has said that we have a faulty battery which cost $100 to replace. And he said that the transmission is going out and ought to be fixed very soon. (The transmission! Hmmmm. Imagine that!) He said that while he couldn't guarantee that we could make it the 800 miles, he was pretty sure it would be OK. Pretty sure.

We've already spent $100 more than we planned and there will be over $100 more for gas just to be 'pretty sure' we wont break down somewhere in the middle of the great vast nothingness that is Wyoming.

Somewhere in Wyoming

(We had a previous car who's transmission went out and was repaired. Twice. We then went on a road trip to California. We broke down in Nevada. Another wide empty space. Thankfully we had just pulled into a little town, but we were only an hour or so from our planned destination for the weekend. We were forced to stay in a hotel for the weekend instead. And we bought a car over the phone and left that one there.)

Deflate again. The car is still packed full and the girls are still hopeful, but we cannot, in good judgement, travel so far with 4 young children in a van so jam packed that even the smallest can't shift her bum 2 inches to the left, when we only maybe will be able to take the 800 miles in 1 weekend with out breaking down.

Now, despite the fact that I am the least likely candidate to even suggest camping in the first place, I am also the most positive of the bunch. I had been going back and forth in my head as to whether or not there is a reasonably priced place nearby that we could camp. Nothing came to mind so I had planned to check the Internet. Until Gabe said we needed to avoid driving the van as much as possible. Nix the driving all over the Colorado mountains idea.

Colorado mountains (a bit hazy)

So we'll pitch camp in the yard.

*Moans* *Pouts* and *Whines* "I really wanted to go to South Dakotaaaa."

"Yes I know. We all did, but unfortunately that didn't work out."

Even Gabe seemed skeptical and showed signs of rebellion.

"No," says I, "we are pitching camp in the yard and were going camping this weekend as planned. We'll still have fun. You'll see."

...to be continued.

Meliss

What Have I Been Doing?

Well, I'm trying to get more items on my little Etsy shop. I have several finished pieces already, several almost finished as well. And of course plans for things that I really need to schedule if I am to actually get them done. I posted 2 new pieces today and have photos of several more that are just waiting to be posted as well.

I haven't yet started my #mailart postcard project but I was able to get better paper. I wasn't happy with the thickness of the paper found at normal craft stores so Gabe made a trip to Xpedex especially for me. I have some ideas for the pieces and not a lot of time so I had better get started.

And of course I've been cooking. With zucchini. I'm thinking I may need to make categories in my blog so they are easier to navigate. Art and recipes and mom stuff. Maybe?

Today's recipe was borrowed from a friend. Marilyn writes for the Denver Examiner and recently interviewed me on my fabulous frugalness. (Really she wrote some questions and I gave her like 8 pages of answers.) I hope to expand on the things I left out in the interview soon.

The recipe was for Mock Apple Pie. I altered it a bit, that's what I do. It called for a double crust but I only had 1 so we made a crumble top for it instead. Here is the original recipe:

4-5cups zucchini, peeled and thinly sliced (like apples) -FB
1 c sugar
1/4 c flour
1 can (2c) applesauce -FB
1-2 T cinnamon
2 pie crusts
mix ingredients and pour into bottom crust, add top crust and make slits, cook for 1 hour at 400F.

Now here are the changes I made and will make in the future:
We had 1 crust so we made a crumble top. Mix 1/2 cup flour, 1 cup oats, 1/3 c brown sugar, and 1/4 c oil til crumbly and sprinkle on top of the pie filling after its in the bottom crust. Bake as normal.


This pie was pretty good, but not totally appleish. Part of the problem, I think, was that Gabe used the apple corer so the zucchini was in big eatable sized slices instead of thin appley pie slices. The bits that were quite small did have the apple pie taste that they were supposed to so I think that was just us not doing it right. The big chunks were not bad, but we could tell that they were not apple pie. Slicing nice and thin is probably an important step in tricking the kids into thinking its apples. I also may add just a bit more sugar to the filling as it was not as sweet as pie. (But we had it for a lunch so less sugar is not a bad thing.) I think I may also add 1 apple next time so that the appley pieness is more appley. And I will probably stick with the crumble top. Its less healthy, but I think its more tasty.

Give it a try, tell me what you think.

Meliss

P.S. Here's a little sneak peek of new items I will post soon...

necklace detail

bracelet detail

a one of a kind ATC with tiny 1" painting by me, sent to customer as a free gift

Adventures with Zucchini...part 1

I'm having an issue with zucchini. Just a small one, and I'm sure I'm not alone, it is the season. The bothersome bit is that it's not even my fault. I am not the greatest gardener and still have much to learn, but I learned years ago that very little zucchini plants are needed to produce many zucchinis. I planted just the right amount for my family of 6, but apparently my friend planted too much for hers because I somehow ended up with a ton from her garden, disguised as a paper grocery bag and stuffed under my chair. So now, despite my own precautions, I have too much zucchini.

I have many, many recipes that I thought I might like to try, but at the moment I have taken it upon myself to put (sneak) zucchini into everything I possible can. You may recall the Zucchini Cinnamon Chocolate Cupcakes (with Strawberry Chocolate Frosting) from my last post. Today I had 3 zucchini experiences. First I baked fresh Zucchini Chocolate Chip Scones for my brunch. Delicious. Then I had a bunch of bananas that were crying to be bread. Zucchini Banana Bread. Also good.

Zucchini Banana Bread & Zucchini Scones

Then the finale. Dinner was Spicy Peaches and Chicken (with zucchini), also a Food Bank friendly recipe. And here it is for you:
(Now, of course I would much prefer to use fresh peaches and fresh hormone-free chicken for this recipe, and if I had made it 2 years ago I probably would have, so feel free to do so if you are able. Also, when I originally made this recipe, I used apricots instead of peaches, which I prefer, but both are tasty. I will mark those items commonly received from the Food Bank with FB.)



Spicy Chicken with Peaches and Zucchini

1can peaches or apricots, drained & diced -FB
1 or 1 1/2cups zucchini, diced or shredded -FB or sneaky friend's garden
1 or 1 1/2c orange juice -FB or WIC
2-4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1-2T apple cider vinegar
2T sugar, brown preferred
1/2-2teas red pepper, I thought 1/2t was kinda lite, but 2 may be much for some
12 ounces of cooked skinless chicken, cubed. -FB 2 (6oz) cans cooked chicken
rice, cooked -FB

Combine all but chicken & rice in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10mins. Add chicken and simmer, making sure chicken gets cooked through, about 10 minutes. Serve chicken in sauce over cooked rice. Quinoa or couscous would be lovely too.

I tested this recipe on my children. The first couple times I made it I used apricots and no zucchini. Daughter #2 insists that she doesn't like zucchini, or indeed most anything green, yet she has devoured the last 5 things I've managed to sneak zucchini into with no complaints. It was she who said that she enjoyed this dish for it's mild sweetness. So, there you go.

Let Me Make it Up to You...

I have neglected my blog for a month!? Wow.
I have had a 'busy' month, and by busy, I mean stuff happened and I didn't blog it.

Gabe's mom and stepdad just came for a visit. It's always stressful but usually turns out just fine. (Yes, this visit turned out just fine.) We went to a free day at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science followed by dinner at Cinzetti's, a big Italian buffet restaurant where kids eat free on Monday and Tuesday nights.

Gabe being eaten by a dinosaur. He doesn't seem too bothered by it.

The next day turned out to be their 30th anniversary. If it was us, Gabe and I would have thrown ourselves a big party (We had a formal tea party for #10) but instead we went to see Night at the Museum2 at the $3 theater and ate over salted popcorn.

Daughter #1 has been working up the strength to get to the top, this was her first time. You go!

On Wednesday we hung around until the girls had their wall climbing class, then on Thursday we went to an awesome park along the Big Thompson river. The river had flooded in '76 wiping out an electrical power plant (and a bunch of other stuff, I don't know, I was only 2) and the park was built around the remains. It was the highlight of everyone's week, free and beautiful.

Bits of the power plant are still there. We also saw bits and broken concrete along the river.

The girls hunting for cool river rocks.

And now the moment you've been waiting for... a delightful recipe from one of my baking experiments. If you follow me on twitter you may recall my recent (homemade) Cinnamon Zucchini Chocolate Cupcakes with (homemade) Strawberry Chocolate Frosting.

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Well, that's not the recipe I'm giving you. Sorry. Maybe next time. But I am giving something almost as fabulous. Pinto Bean Pie. Oh Yes.

You may recall from previous posts that my family receives help from our local food bank. Things are still tight and work is still slow and I have so many pinto beans its insane. I've been collecting and creating and altering various recipes and plan to compile them one day. I know our family is not the only one having hard times financially and I thought I would share a bit of how we are making due.

This pie is pretty amazing, even my daughter who hate beans loved it. You can't even tell its beans. It is very like a pecan pie with out the pecans. (Although I suppose you could add some if you like.) It has the rich sweetness of the filling in a pecan pie and just enough almonds to give it the nutty crunch it deserves. Give it a try, you'll love it. Especially if you have an over abundance of pinto beans.

For this pie I used a premade pie crust I had, but feel free to make a yummy fresh one.

Pinto Bean Pie

2/3 cup plain sugar
2/3c brown sugar
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1/3c butter
1 cup pinto beans, cooked and mashed
1/3-1/2c almonds
1 pie crust

preheat oven to 350degrees F (175 degrees C)
cream butter, sugars, and eggs. add beans and nuts, mix well. pour mixture into uncooked pie crust and bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. The lovely crust on the top is the pie itself.

So simple. So tasty. Let me know how you liked it.

Meliss

Tweedlepox in Denver's Frugal Examiner

A friend of mine, Marilyn, has an examiner.com page, Denver Frugal Living, and recently featured some of my artwork that's on Etsy. I didn't even know it was there until I decided to see what new articles she had posted.

She concentrates on short simple ideas for living on a budget. As a mother of 5 (hers are all grown now) she's had a lot of experience stretching a dollar to care for a large family and many of her articles give tips on how to do that. She discusses growing your own produce and making your own pizza as well as other tips and local entertainments too.



She spoke of Etsy as one way stay home moms (like me :) can contribute monetarily to the household while being able to continue to stay and be the mom. As she mentioned, for those of us with a large family, the amount we'd make elsewhere doesn't even cover the cost of childcare. Etsy is a great place for any artist, full or part time, to market their wares as literally thousands of people shop Etsy everyday.

Marilyn even included a link to my Tweedlepox store so I guess I should get more stuff out there. I have been waiting for Gabe to teach me how to do the pictures on the computer but his schedule has been packed this month so it has gone undone. It was my intent to get new products up each week. Well, we all know that many good intentions get thwarted in life but that's no excuse to stop trying.

I think I'll work on it this weekend. And maybe we'll have some pizza too.

Meliss