We were visiting friends over the weekend and Ryan broke out the salt n vinegar crickets. 

And I got the whole thing on video.

I barely had ‘record’ pushed before the first taster, Joe, tossed his cricket into his mouth, so it is kind of an abrupt beginning.  Sorry about that.

Nobody tossed an enormous amount of money at me, so obviously I wasn’t eating any insects.  But my husband did, tasting it and commenting on the flavor and texture like it was a fine wine.

I told you my family was weird.  It turns out that much of my friend’s family is too.

Nice to know I’m not the only mom of a bunch of weirdies.

I used to sell squeaky shoes for toddlers and had a pair left over.  Jesse is just now fitting into them so I stuck them on his feet last week to see how he would react. 

After about 5 minutes of taking a step, hearing the squeak, turning around in a circle trying to find out where the noise was coming from, then doing that all over again, he finally figured out that he was making the squeak. 

And we got that part on video.  It’s very cute. 
Listen carefully for the squeaks.

Whoever designed the screen door, particularly the way the screen is placed in the frame, I would like to have a chat with.

And I’m not talking about a pleasant conversation over tea and crumpets.

“Be still and know that I am God…” Psalm 46:10

Yesterday afternoon our friends took us to Fort Pickens in Pensacola.  There were 3 families, 16 kids (not counting my husband or the baby on the way), and lots of fun picture opportunities.

Too bad that I was taking pictures on my phone so most of them didn’t turn out very well with all the constant movement required by 16 children.  We won’t mention that I can’t take good pictures no matter what kind of camera I’m taking pictures with.  I’m just going to be content blaming it on my phone.

But I did get a few pictures that turned out all right.

We saw that life wanted to be

We had fear of flying grapes

We saw a crab in the oddest place

The trip was relaxing and enjoyable.  I got some much needed exercise, the kids had a great time exploring and laughing with friends, and the weather was absolutely perfect.

It was good.  Very good.

This week’s Have A Frugalicious Christmas post is beaded bookmarks.

 These bookmarks are easy, extremely inexpensive, and make perfect gifts for any of the girls or women in you life.  And guys too if you can find a manly charm to go on the end.  Just don’t call it a ‘charm’ around him. Call it a page clamping tool, or a micro-screwdriver, or hammer for tiny, tiny spaces, or a steak or something.  Just not a charm, or dangly, or pendant.

What’s even better about creating your own bookmark is pairing it with a classic book.  Barnes and Noble classics are inexpensive and perfect for gifting.  I think I got mine for $2 a piece on sale in their bargain books section. 

Before I get started, I want to apologize for the cruddy-ness of the photos.  We decided to go out of town last minute so I grabbed my supplies and did the project, took and edited the pictures, and am writing this entire post in the car.  It’s fun – and time is going by pretty fast because I’m busy doing something.

There is so much room for creativity with this project, and because of this it is a great use-what-you-have craft.  I grabbed some different beads and charms on my way out the door, along with a spool or ribbon I got from the Dollar Tree. 

Here are the basics of what you’ll need.

• 1 spool of ribbon (thought saying the word ‘spool’ around your 12 year old son may get you called ‘grandma’ - just a warning).
• different beads with bigger holes in them
• charms

Many of these items can be found for very cheap at a craft store, or go to your local thrift store and pick up some old pieces of beaded jewelry.  I love taking apart old necklaces and using the beads for new creations.

First, you’ll want to cut a piece of ribbon one and a half times longer than you want it to end up.  Make sure to cut each end to a point to make threading easier.

Slide on your beads.  You’ll want to do this on both ends of the ribbon.  Tie off the top end of the bookmark.  I just tied a knot, creating a loop at the top because I thought it was cute. 

Then, add your charm to the bottom of the bookmark.  This is where you decide how long you want your bookmark to be.  If you already have a book gift in mind you can use that as your guide.  If not, use an average size book to measure your bookmark length.  Once you have your bottom beads pushed up far enough create your desired length bookmark, add your charm and tie the end off, trimming any excess ribbon away.

If you want to ensure your ends don’t come untied put a dab of glue on each knot, rubbing it in well.  When this dries it will harden the knots helping them to hold firm.

This project cost me less than $2. It was quick, easy, and required no sewing or gluing. However, depending on what you want to do you can go the extra mile and sew, glue, embellish, etc…

And there you have it, a cheap, easy, and personal gift!

I’ll post a new frugal Christmas gift/idea next Saturday!

For our first Hot Chocolate Holiday post, we’re going to be testing a recipe created by me!

No, I didn’t get any hot chocolate submissions.  But that’s okay.  The $25 gift card will have to go towards another holiday giveaway.

But, like I said, we’ll still be posting weekly hot chocolate recipes – testing them all out to see what the best recipe is.  And this week was a perfect time to start.

Our lows dipped into the low 50′s this week, making mornings quite cool.  Kait and I actually wore sweaters the other morning when we went grocery shopping. 

This first recipe calls for the following ingredients:

• 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup milk
• 5 cups water
• sprinkle salt
• chocolate chips
• mini marshmallows
• cinnamon

Add the condensed milk, cocoa powder, sugar, vanilla, milk, water, and salt to a pot.  Mix well and heat on medium low until nice and hot.  Pour into mugs, add 7 or 8 chocolate chips, marshmallows, and sprinkle with a little cinnamon.

For my family’s review -

Well, my husband doesn’t eat sweets much.  He’s probably going to opt out of all of the hot chocolate recipes, unless I find a dark chocolate one.  He loves dark chocolate.

However, my kids gave it mostly glowing reviews. 

Here is a video of my boys expressing their opinions.  Kait is too good to be on video so you won’t see her.  
Just Kidding.
Actually, she outside studying biology and that’s why I didn’t get her on video the review.  She did take pictures of the hot chocolate all prepared for me but I haven’t been able to get them off the camera.  I’ll do that and post the picture soon.
That is if I remember…

Anyway, she gave it a 3 out of 5.  She’s picky and really hasn’t found a hot chocolate recipe that lives up to our lost [sniff!] crock pot recipe from last year. 

As you saw from the video, the boys were more interested in the chocolate chips and marshmallows than the actual hot chocolate.  But they all enjoyed it with plenty of mmm’s all around.  And they all asked for more.

My opinion was that it was a fabulous recipe.  It had a thick, rich texture and was quite flavorful.  I’m not going to rate it because it’s the first recipe we’ve tried during our Hot Chocolate Holiday series, and I have nothing to compare it to.

But it was dang good.

Check back next Friday for our 2nd Hot Chocolate Holiday recipe – which involves some very interesting ingredients.

Like butter!?!

I said I had a bread making tutorial to post today but it appears that I don’t.  For some reason it’s running too fast on my computer when I try to convert it to something usable.

I have spent way too much time on this today.

It’s really annoying when you spend time doing something, carefully planning everything out, piecing together each part to create something nice, and working hard to get it done,  just to find out that a small technical issue is standing in your way of success.

I could be really angry.  I could feel like throwing my camera and computer out the window.  I could be letting my frustration guide my actions towards my family.

But Mama Squirrel wrote on contentment yesterday.  She reminded me that I don’t need a bread making video to smile.  She reminded me that I’d be perfectly fine if I didn’t even have a video camera.

I can have joy even though this project isn’t going well. It’s the better choice.

So, I’m good.  Still wish I could get my video to convert without going all chimpmunk on me, but I’ll be okay if I have to scrap the whole thing and start again another day.

And that would just mean more fresh bread for us.  So, I guess it wouldn’t be all bad.

…I stayed quite busy getting caught up on things.  Kait and I made a modified menu for the rest of the week (we were out of town this past weekend), made a list, and went grocery shopping. 

I finished up some laundry left over from our weekend excursion.

I baked some bread and made a batch of cinnamon rolls with a video which I’ll post tomorrow.

We went through the older 4 boys’ clothes and ended up with a huge pile of clothes that are stained, ripped, or just never worn. 

I got through about 80% of my own closet, weeding out things I never wear.  Hopefully I’ll be able to finish that job up tomorrow.

And tonight I’m tired.  Even though I’m always quite tired at night, I usually have a hard time falling asleep.  It’s not a serious issue or anything, but I often have to read for a bit before I’m sleepy enough to zonk out.  Tonight isn’t one of those nights.  I was so busy today that when bed time rolled around I was completely ready for it.

But aint Murphy’s law grand. 

Just before bed I realized that we had forgotten to make dog food today, meaning we couldn’t feed our beloved, furry friends tonight before bed as we normally do.  We make our dog food from scrach, if you didn’t know.  We ran out last night and Joe(12) had decided to leave the dog food bucket on the counter so we wouldn’t forget to make it today.  I told him not to do that, that I didn’t want that nasty bucket sitting on my counter all night and into the morning. 
He moved it for me, back to it’s spot in the back of the fridge.

Shoulda listened to Joe.

The 3 oldest kids hadn’t yet gotten in bed and came out and helped me get that started.  It really isn’t difficult to make, only a couple minutes preparation, but it takes an hour to cook and I’ve just now finished it and fed both pups.

I should feed like I really accomplished a lot today, but instead I just feel pregnant.

I think I’m going to head to bed.

After I sneak a little late night homemade bread snack.  Mmm…

I have a box of salt n’ vinegar crickets on my counter.  It says on it the other green meat.

My husband thinks he’s funny.

He saw them at a store and just haaad to buy a box. 

Yes, this is the man I married.

He’s planning on offering them to the kids to see who’s willing to try them.  But I think it’s rather disgusting and I want nothing to do with this.

However, I have quite the adventurous gaggle of children.  I am pretty sure all of my older kids will try these without hesitation.  They are all their father’s children in this regard.

I think they’re all weird.

I’m not a picky person when it comes to food.  I’ll try just about anything once.  But a gal has to draw the line somewhere, and I’m drawing a thick, black line with a permanent sharpie at eating bugs. 
And some varieties of seafood.  But we’re not talking about that.

You’d have to give me an awful lot of money to get me to cross that line.