A Tribute to an Indiana Summer

After having an unseasonably long, cold and snowy winter, followed by one of the hottest and the driest summer on record - I'm relishing in the perfect days we're having right now.  Temperatures in the 70s, bright blue skies, smells to delights the senses - ahhh...summer perfection.  While taking a drive through the country yesterday afternoon I told my husband, "It's days like these that make those last cold days of winter that feel like they're never going to end worth it."  These are the days that encompass everything I love about the Hoosier State.  

I notice that the days are getting shorter, fall decorations are lining the store shelves, there is a difference in the air and everyone is beginning to turn their sights to 'back to school' and hunkering down for the autumn routine.  In short, we're starting to say 'good-bye' to the carefree days of summer.  I'm not quite ready for that yet.  I'm clinging to her for everything she's worth at the moment.  So, in honor of summer in all her glory, I thought I'd share some pictures I snapped to showcase some of the things I love about this place that has so captured my heart.

Hope you relish in the last bit summer!
Pam

Recently, my parents came down for a visit.

We had something to celebrate.

This guy's 11th birthday.

It's hard to imagine that my baby is 11 years old.  It seems like these years have flown by.  He is growing into such wonderful young man.  He's so polite, helpful and funny.  He seems to have inherited a very off-the-wall sense of humor.  That's a good thing...I think. :0) I see another change taking place in him lately.  You know the changes that signal that they're maturing into a new phase and leaving a little bit more of your 'baby' behind?  Yeah, that kind.  It's really bitter-sweet. {Now I'm totally singing Whitney's version of "I Will Always Love You" in my head. Sorry...}

He had a very low-key birthday this year - just like he wanted.  His grandparents went with us to eat at his favorite Mexican restaurant.  Then we came home to open presents and have cake and ice cream.  He told me it was the best birthday he's ever had - having all of his grandparents with him.  My parents came down for his birthday a few years ago and we had a party with kids, games and the whole she-bang then.  I asked him if this year was better than that.  He said it was because - get this - it was just with the people he loves most in the world.  Sniff, sniff... For him, nothing could top an intimate birthday with those closest to him.  Sometimes he still amazes me.

I love this picture.  It's the only one of him and his grandparents. (Neither of us got to meet his other papaw before he went to heaven.  That's a reunion we still have to look forward to.)

So, here's to savoring every moment, because each phase passes way to quickly and I don't want to miss a single instant...

Pam

This is where I was last night...

Sitting in the Hoosier Lottery Grandstands at the Indiana State Fair.

This is why...

Recognize these guys?

How 'bout this guy?

Alright then...Can you make out the name?  Let me help you.  Mercy Me.

Chris and I had a little date night and went to see Mercy Me and Third Day at the state fair.  Together.  Does it GET any better than that?  I had never seen Mercy Me in concert before, and let me just say, I was impressed.  They were awesome!  You always know when a band has got some skills because they don't sound any different live than they do on their CDs.  Y'all, Bart Millard's got some chops. Seriously.  And, FUNNY.  He kept me laughing.  Very refreshing.  Except for when he grouped me in with the old people - you know the ones who grew up in the 80's and wore parachute pants.  I liked him until that moment.  Nah, I'm just kidding.  Except for the part about the parachute pants.  I totally had a pair of those.  Sign me up for another Mercy Me concert.

By the time Third Day came on it was dark out and I couldn't get a decent picture.

This is the best photo I could get of Mac Powell.  Clearly, I won't be taking home a blue ribbon in photography for this shot.  I won't go into great length about their portion of the concert, either, except to say that they DID NOT disappoint 'cause y'all already KNOW how much I love Third Day.

The Lord was looking down on us with love last night.  Well, he always looks down us with love.  Maybe it would be more accurate to say he was looking down on us with compassion.  And a cold front.  Yes, compassion and a cold front.  You see, it's been wicked hot here for well over a month - just like most of the country, I guess.  But, having experienced temps in the upper 90's and often over 100 degrees with the 'feels like' temp - let's just say 'grateful' would be an understatement for the 78 degrees we experienced last night.  The seats were so tight that I now have first hand knowledge of what it would feel like to be a sardine.  If we didn't have that cold front come through, not only would it have been miserable hot, but people would've been stinkin' to high heavens.  And, I really don't want some body else's sweaty arm rubbing up against me - not even if it's my own.  I'm a lady and I don't like to sweat. :0)  Gah! But, thankfully, that wasn't an issue.  Not only was it very comfortable temperature wise, but there was a glorious breeze.

All in all, it was a great and memorable date night - great weather, great music and my best friend.  Life is sweet.  Very, very sweet. :0)

Free Kindle Accessories

In my last post I told y'all how I got my new Kindle for $.06.  Well, after waiting until the beginning of August when I could redeem some more of my Swagbucks, I was able to get a couple of accessories to go with it.

I normally redeem my SB for amazon.com gift cards.  But, after doing a little snooping around the web I realized that I could get what I wanted more frugally if I redeemed my SB for Pay Pal gift cards and ordered off of Ebay instead.  Leave it to a stay-at-home mom to figure out how to be frugal with free! :0)

So, check out what I got.

A cover and light.

Actually, it's a genuine leather cover, not polyurethane.  Cool.

This little set-up is great at night.

Now, let's make a short story long and I'll fill you in on the details, mkay?

Here's the break-down.  A $5 gift card for amazon.com costs 450 swagbucks.  With the amount of SB I had available to redeem I could have gotten $20 worth of gift cards.  Pay Pal gift cards on the other hand cost 700 SB for a $5 gift card.  I only had enough SB for $15 worth of Pal Pal credit.  You would think that the smarter road would have been to get more credit, wouldn't you?  I did too until I did some comparison shopping.

Kindle covers start at $35 on amazon.com.  I'm not talking skins or sleeves here, but cases that still enclose the Kindle while I'm reading like the one pictured.  That's what I wanted.  I would have had to kick in an extra $15 plus shipping.  Doable, but I like a challenge. :0)

With some savvy shopping on Ebay I was able to grab a brand spanking new genuine leather cover that completely encases the Kindle.  Some of the older models just hold the Kindle in with 4 corner elastic straps.  I'm sure that's fine, but this just seemed a little more secure to me.  I chose a top rated seller that didn't charge for shipping and handling and only had to pay $5.89.  The closest comparison I could find on amazon. com was $39.99 and it didn't have a magnetic closure (or any closure for that matter) and it had the older elastic straps.

Since I had some moolah left I snagged a book light for $6.99 - also from a top rated seller that didn't charge shipping.  The cheapest one on amazon.com is $11.99.

Now, don't get me wrong - I have nothing against amazon.com.  I usually go that route.  It's just that in this case it payed to shop around.  If I had went with amazon.com my out of pocket cost would have been $31.98 plus shipping and handling, after using my $20 credit.  By being a savvy shopper, my total cost ended being $12.88 - leaving me a credit of $2.11.  Nothing out of pocket. Plus, I got a higher quality cover in the process.

And, just to round out my shopping experience...  I ordered both of my items late Thursday night.  I received my light on Monday and my cover on Tuesday.  I was surprised at how fast they came.

I love the challenge of finding a good deal!

You Have to Check Out What I Got In the Mail!

Y'all, I was so excited when this package came in the mail yesterday.  Like, really, really excited.  Because this is what was inside.

Of course I was excited because it was a bona fide Kindle, but I was also over the moon because I bought it brand new for exactly $.06.  Yes, you read that right - six whopping cents!  And, I could've gotten it for free if I had been slightly more patient.  You wanna know how?  Ok, you can quit twisting my arm now.  I couldn't wait to spill the beans anyway. :0)

You're probably familiar with Swagbucks by now, but just in case you live on Jupiter or something - Swagbucks is a site that you can set as your homepage or download to your toolbar and you use it as a search engine just like you would Google or whatever your search engine of choice would be.  The difference is that Swagbucks rewards you for searching with them - in - wait for it...Swagbucks (SB).  You didn't see that coming did you?  You can also earn SB by taking a 10 second daily poll, watching short videos, taking advantage of special offers and a host of other options.  I mostly just use it as a search engine and take the daily polls and still earn enough SB to buy great stuff.  You can redeem your SB for a gazillion different doodads or gift cards.  I always redeem them for Amazon.com gift cards because I figure a gal can buy anything her little heart could desire on there.  Which leads me to my next tid bit for you...

Did you know that Amazon.com has a buy back program?  So does Swagbucks for that matter, but we're talking about Amazon.com now. They will buy back books, DVD's, and games and gaming consoles.  Seeing as how we're a homeschooling family, we have books coming out of our ears at the moment.  So, I did a check of all the ones we're ready to part with to see which titles were part of Amazon.com's buy back program.  It was really simple.  They have a detailed explanation on their site.  Anyway, I added the books I would be returning to my "cart" and when I was finished I simply had to print off the shipping label they provide (and pay for), box up the books, apply the shipping label, drop it off at a UPS drop center and wait for my credit.  I was surprised at how quickly they received my shipment and credited my Amazon.com account.  When I saw how easy that was I started pilfering through all those old DVD's that never get watched and sent them in, too.

Between my credit for Amazon's buy back program and the gift cards I was able to redeem through Swagbucks, I came up exactly $.06 short of being able to purchase my new Kindle.  I have more SB to redeem, but have to wait until August to do that, as you're only allowed to redeem 5 prizes per month through Swagbucks.  I figured $.06 wasn't worth waiting an entire month for just to be able to say that I got it for free.

So, if you're doing some summer clutter removing and have books, movies, and gaming consoles or games that are just sitting around collecting dust - you should really look into Amazon.com's buy back program.  It's way easier than having a yard sale. :0)

If you're not already using Swagbucks as your search engine, I would highly recommend it.  If you're searching anyway, why not get rewarded for it?  If you decide to look into it, I would be very grateful if you link through the Swagbucks banner on my left-hand column over there.  I'll get rewarded if you link up through my site.  And then, if you get people using Swagbucks, you'll be rewarded, too.  It's a win-win situation.

Pam

Tattler Reusable Canning Lid Review

I mentioned yesterday that I did my first round of canning for the season recently.  This canning session was a little different than most for me, though.  I had ordered some Tattler reusable canning lids.  The reusable canning lids are BPA free and consist of a flat white lid with a rubber ring that goes between it and the jar.  They have received great reviews and are supposed to be something that I can use for decades.  Y'all, buying lids every year can really crank the cost of canning up.  These are kind of pricey up front, but will be much more economical over time.

I had been anxiously awaiting my first go 'round with them.  I only ordered 3 dozen to begin with because I was unsure of how they would work for me.  I was a little uncertain about them having 2 pieces and not making the "pop" that assures me that they sealed properly.

I plunged head-first into canning my first seven quarts of green beans with the Tattler lids, following the the directions exactly.  Which, incidentally isn't any harder than using regular flats - unless you count the fact that the rings need to be tightened completely when they're pulled from the water after processing.  Big whoop.  I waited until the following morning to check and see if all of them sealed properly just to be on the safe side.

Happily, every single jar sealed like it was supposed to.  That was enough for me to be a convert.  I must say that I was really impressed with these and will be adding to my supply soon.  These truly were easy to use and I would highly recommend them.

Crispy Beans

My parents went on a trip this past weekend and my mom hit up the health food store before they left for some snacks to take in the car with them.  She told me about these crispy green beans that were so delicious.  They were baked until crunchy, sort of like a potato chip.  I asked her what was in them and she read me the ingredient list that included canola oil, salt and a handful of other ingredients I didn't recognize.  I told her I bet I could make them.

As things would turn out, a couple of days later I spent all morning picking green beans in our garden.  I canned all of our blue lakes, but I had a bunch of the hericots verts that I didn't feel like cooking for supper and didn't have everything I needed to pickle them.  Then I remembered my mom's crispy beans. I figured I would take a shot at recreating the health food store version that my mom picked up.  I am SO glad I did.  I think we have a new favorite in our house - and they couldn't be easier.

Crispy Beans


fresh green beans (I think a slender bean would turn out best, but haven't tried the thicker variety.)
olive oil
salt (I used sea salt.)

Snap the ends off of the beans and give them a good rinse and dry.  Place them in a bowl and drizzle with enough olive oil to cover.  Toss to coat.  Lay on a cookie sheet or two, depending on how many beans you have.  Sprinkle with salt.  Place them in a 200 degree oven until no longer chewy, but crispy.  This will take about 6 - 8 hours.  The key to these beans is to cook them low and slow to basically dehydrate them without burning them.  The best way to go about this would be to stick them in the oven in the morning and let them cook all day - or stick them in the oven before bed and let them cook all night.  Don't let the length of time in the oven keep you from trying these.  The temp is extremely low and you don't even have to flip them over.

The nice thing about these crispy beans are that they only have 3 ingredients, no preservatives and your kids will love them.  I don't know about you, but I would much rather see my kiddo reaching for a green bean than a gold fish.  These are ridiculously inexpensive (especially if you have a garden) and take all of 5 minutes to prepare.  Once they're in the oven you barely have to think about them.

Just a word of caution though, these are very addicting.  They didn't stick around long at our house.  I've made 2 batches of these, so far, upon request.  Have I ever mentioned how much I love having a garden?  :0)

Pam