Day of Washing, Churning & Learning

It's taking me a bit of time to get some of my photos posted. I have no idea why. It's not like I have anything to do during the week. Okay, I can't say that with a straight face. ROTFL! Anyway, these are pics from our field trip in late September. We went with several friends from our co-op group & church homeschool group. A local museum had a "Day of Washing, Churning & Learning". It was fantastic as it was set up for the kids to have all hands on learning. It was set in the 1800's & taught the kids what life was like. I learned a lot too. The price was right too at $5 per participating child. I only had to pay for the middle 3! They were able to make things to take home too. What an amazing field trip! I am already looking forward to going back next year.

The children were each given a cup of seeds to plant at home.

They learned how it was to write with ink & a quill pen.

Weaving was a favorite activity

They made potpourri sachets.

They learned about quilting & other needlework.

I thought it was very clever how this quilting frame was suspended from the ceiling. If they needed the room for a dance or such it was simply raised to the ceiling & out of the way.

Coffin squares.

Carding & spinning the wool.

The Weasel

Ever wonder where the song "Pop, Goes the Weasel" came from? Well, this is it!

Dipping candles

Doing laundry in the washtub.

Almost all the guides & helpers were in period costumes.

The laundry must be hung up to dry.

This was a favorite of Elvis'. He enjoyed beating the rug!

Mrs. Jen entertains Princess.

Sawing wood with a partner.

It is not as easy as it looks!

Beans cooking over the fire.

A peek in the soldier's tent.

Hardtack

He showed it to the kids & they were allowed to touch it to see how tough it really is.

Boo gets a turn with her best friend.

Conferderate Money

Corncob pipe

Homemade lantern

Wooden blocks

My clown!

There were clothes to dress up in. Fun!

The kids were able to play games of the 18oo's.

Sack race!

Other toys ~ LOVE the hands on opportunities!

Tops

This was the boys' absolute favorite. They were able to be soldiers. The commander explained to them their training & responsibilities. He told them waht their daily lives would be like.

They were allowed to hold these guns & taught how to march with them.

The commander was a perfect blend of acting his part (gruff & rough) and being kind to the children.

See what I mean? Here he is helping Bugs hold his gun correctly.

Ready! MARCH!

They marched around the square in formation.

They learned both how to pick up the gun from the ground & how to lay it down properly.

I was proud of my little soldiers!

I really enjoyed talking with this lady.

Stilts

Because of the age of the toys these were for looking only.

What a fun day!

Score at Kroger!

We are in a very tight spot right now financially. We always have a tight budget but we are squeezing every penny for it's worth right now. We had several unexpected costs come up. For those of you who live tight like we do you understand how that throws things off. Because of this our grocery budget is smaller than normal. I went into Kroger today to get essentials only & with cash in hand. I was holding my breath that my $100 would make it! Normally I shop about twice a month and have about $225. This time I was going in with less than half that.

This is what I came home with. I was extremely pleased! At one point I looked up & the register said $199. Ack! It was still climbing & didn't even add in TN's 9.75% tax yet. I about fell on the floor! How could that have happened? Then all at once the Mega Event savings clicked in on the register & the numbers started rolling downward. I almost cheered! Now we were down to $117 & that wasn't counting my coupons. As our friend punched in each coupon Sweet Pea & I watched the numbers fall. Finally we got to $97.22! I grinned at Sweet Pea & she grinned back. We made it UNDER $100! I proudly brought home our groceries & the change to Dave. =0)
Here is what we got with our $:

1 - 21 lbs. turkey
1- 20 lbs. turkey
2 boxes of tissues ($1/each - I had to get a bit softer b/c of our colds)
8 cans Campbell's Cream of Chicken soup (38cents/can)
4 cans Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup (38cents/can)
12 cans Carnation evaporated milk (15 cents/can)
2 boxes Stove Top Stuffing (75cents/each)
9 cans Kroger peaches in light syrup (49cents/each)
4 - 28oz. cans whole peeled tomatoes (99 cents/each)
2 - 24ct. Stayfree pads (99 cents/each)
8 rolls of Bounty paper towels (sale & coupon)
1 - 10lbs. bag of potatoes ($3.99)
10 boxes Annie's Organic Mac & Cheese (49 cents/each)
2 boxes Life cereal ($1.49/each)
3 - 4pk Danimals yogurt ($1/each)
4 - 4pk Activia yogurt ($1/each)
4 - 4pk Dannon Light & Fit yogurt ($1/each)
2 tubs Best Life buttery spread (49cents/each)
1 jar Chi-Chi's salsa
24 ct. Advil (50 cents)
2.5 lbs. red seedless grapes
4 on the vine tomatoes
1lb. asparagus
1 container Organic Honest Fruit Punch ( free)
2 bags Pepperidge Farm chocolate brownie cookies (99cents/bag ~my splurge for Dave & I)
1 box Pepperidge Farm natural crackers (99 cents)

I'm especially thrilled with the turkeys. They were on sale from $1.49/lb. to 69 cents/lb. That's more than 50% savings! We will use them for soups, casseroles, sandwiches & other meals. The bones will be great for broth. These will go a long way in feeding my family of 7.

I'm feeling happy & blessed with our savings today. My greatest reward was my husband's compliments & praise. That was worth more than the $130 we saved. Much more! =0)

Our Bedroom Makeover

We continued on to our bedroom. It really needed to be arranged better. Our budget is always tight but it is barely squeaking by lately. I am trying hard to use what we already have to make things look nicer & new. One thing we needed in our room was more drawer space. Dave & Sweet Pea brought the dresser from Boo Bear's room to our room. Then the re-arranging began! There wasn't much purging to do as I keep on top of it. But things did need to be organized a bit again as our room is my office, bedroom, planning room & sometimes even a schoolroom.

We started moving the furniture, wiping down baseboards & vacuuming. That chest of drawers, (Dave's), used to be over where the vacuum is. And it was piled high with stuff.

The other side of the room.

We swapped out the small nightstand & put the long set of drawers by the window instead. The bookshelf was moved to where Dave's chest of drawers used to be.


Now Dave's chest of drawers & my dresser, (recovered from Boo's room) stand side-by-side.

I made a cozy reading corner. Dave brought the small recliner in from Princess' bedroom & the bookshelves were moved. The basket & box hold my school planning books & papers.

Our cozy bed. I love being able to have my hope chest out again. This was given to me as a high school graduation gift from my dear Nana.

I'm hoping to dig through my old curtains & valances to see if I have something that will work in our bedroom. If not it will wait for now. The blinds are the most important & we have those. Yay! =0)

I am really pleased with the outcome of our room & feel much more relaxed in it. Sweet Pea said it looks like "a nice hotel room". Lol! The best part is it didn't cost us a dime. =0)