The 72-Hour Kit Challenge, week 5

I didn't do so well on last week's assignment, so I don't have a picture to post of the tent I acquired. I guess this week will be a two-for in our house and hopefully I don't fall any more behind!

All right, so now that we have immediate food, water, and shelter needs covered, the next goal is to make sure each kit contains a complete change of clothing. The tricky thing about this comes in two parts: seasons change and children grow.

So it is recommended that items get pulled out from time to time, to make sure the clothes still fit and also to make sure they will be seasonally appropriate. It isn't exactly space-saving to include a change of clothes for each season, so making sure to replace them will probably be easiest. I think the best thing for our family would be to coordinate it with changing the batteries in our smoke alarms. We do this when the time changes in April and October (we DO have a firefighter in the house, and I'm sure he actually does it more often than this, but that's when I do it myself), but you are supposed to do it approximately every six months either way.

Adjust the clothing to be summer appropriate according to what your family would be most comfortable with. What is recommended for winter (providing for the possibility of layering) is the following:

Long pants
Long sleeved shirt
Sweater or sweatshirt - fleece is a good option
Socks (wool or wool/synthetic blend)
Underwear (preferably with wicking protection- made of polyester or polypropylene)

I had no idea what 'wicking' protection is. Rest assured, I immediately thought of something completely inappropriate. But the actual definition is basically the ability of a material to keep water/moisture away from your body. Apparently cotton is one of the worst materials for that as it will hold water and when wet, it will not be so heat-friendly for your body.

Outerwear will be coming up later, but feel free to include that now if you wish. Since we're coming up on summer, I might reschedule that for a more winterish (or clearance-ish) time and swap it out with something that doesn't make me swelter just thinking about it.

Perfection

I saw this quote posted at work and I laughed so very hard. It's true of what is expected of everyone in public service, but he explained it so well in the context of the fire department!

"Our department takes 1,120 calls every day. Do you know how many of the calls the public expects perfection on? 1,120. Nobody calls the fire department and says, 'Send me two dumb-ass firemen in a pickup truck.' In three minutes they want five brain-surgeon decathlon champions to come and solve all their problems."

— Chief John Eversole, Chicago Fire Dept.

Fire Station Fruit Salad and Light Summer Dinner

We were in the mood for something easy and light for dinner last night, and this is what we came up with! It was the perfect way to beat the heat and fill up at the same time. Plus, the leftovers have been just fine, which is always a plus.



Fire Station Fruit Salad
2 each of desired fruits; this time we used banana, peach, strawberries (about 1/4 lb.), grapes (about 1 1/2 C.), and green apples.
32 oz. low-fat strawberry yogurt

Clean and chop fruit. Mix together with yogurt. Keep leftovers covered in the refrigerator.



Pull Apart Sandwiches

1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
3 Tbsp. butter, softened
Horseradish as desired (I used about 1/2 tsp.)
1 loaf Italian or crusty bread, approx 10-12 in. long
6-7 slices swiss cheese
3/4 lb. thinly sliced deli ham

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (or turn on grill). Spray a 25X18 in. sheet of aluminum foil with non-stick spray and set aside. Slice bread most of the way through (leave approx. 1/4 in. attached) into 12-14 slices. In a small bowl, combine butter, mustard and horseradish. Spread mixture generously inside every other slice of bread. Fold cheese diagonally and put inside every other slice of bread (where buttered). Divide ham evenly and tuck inside cheese. Wrap loaf in foil and grill or bake until heated through. In the oven, this took about 40-45 mins.



We served the sandwiches, fruit salad, potato chips, and cottage cheese for a simple, easy summer meal. If we would've used the grill (Alan came home as dinner was ready and I'm not so proficient at getting to heat up on 'low'), we wouldn't have even warmed up the inside of the house. This all comfortably served three adults and Mason. My guess honestly is you could serve up to four adults with this sandwich and have plenty for everyone.

Mission Accomplished!

Hey, we actually have buds on some of our new flowers! There are flowers in my garden that aren't purple! Not that I have anything against purple. I really like it, I just find it strange that I kill any flowers that aren't purple. Far be it from me to sound so excited about gardening, but the bright yellow made me so very happy I had to share. Sometimes, I find joy in simple things.

Besides, if these don't work out, I'm sticking with my strengths and going all purple, all over.

Oh, also, in case we needed proof I'm not a really good gardener, I was excited to see a yellow flower pop up in the midst of my salvia bushes (all right, so I know the name but I may not spell it right). This excited me because I thought it might be an off-shoot of some flowers I loved last year but that didn't fare so well come spring. Um, no. This morning, it had opened up into something that can only be described as a dandelion on steroids. You know, like when the dandelion is seeding and preparing to spread its evil henceforth? It was promptly destroyed, but I noticed some different yellow flowers in the middle of another purple bush (that I don't really know the name of), so we'll see how that goes. Maybe I can salvage those poor dead bushes, even in a reincarnated form.

Five Small Helpful Habits

In my time being home with Mason over the last two years, I have learned a thing or two about what it takes for me to be a successful housekeeper. If only I could learn more than these five small things, my house might be in something resembling order.



1. Get out of bed in the morning and make it immediately.

For some reason, this makes me feel better about my whole house. FlyLady said so once and I thought she was full of it, but I was the one who was wrong.

2. Exercise-all the better if it's with someone.

I'm only regular about this when Alan is home and pushing me to do it. I'm trying harder to be better about it. It's a lot harder to justify eating candy and watching TV when I haven't already exercised. Here's hoping P90X doesn't kill me....

3. Listen to feel-good music during unpleasant tasks.

I super-duper hate working in the yard. If we're doing it while Mason is taking a nap, I can put on my iPod and the time flies. Same goes for dusting, but we try to make a dance party out of it every now and then.

4. Clean it up immediately.

I learned this habit years ago from my grandfather. When he was cooking, he would get everything he needed out at the beginning and then put it back where it went as soon as he had used it. Alan watched me doubtfully as I did this the first time he saw me make cookies, but it works for me. I apply it to anything. I don't leave the milk or bread out, I don't leave crumbs on the counter, and I do dishes while my treats are baking.

5. Never be afraid of a play-break.

Classifying this as helpful might be a stretch. But Mason is a whole lot more cooperative if I can find a balance between doing my housework and paying attention to him. If we just played trucks for 20 minutes, my clean laundry doesn't hit the floor before it's folded or I might get the dishwasher loaded before a monkey climbs on the open door. This is a mighty big "if" only because I know Mason won't always want to play with me, so I tend to abandon other tasks in favor of that one more often than I probably should.

The (short) Tale of Mason, Dad, and some flavored ice

While we were at Cabela's last weekend, Mason had a prime opportunity: while Mom was waiting in line to pay, Dad took Mason outside and bought him his very first snow cone. When asked what flavor he wanted, Mason responded "red" (of course he did) but at least his shirt wasn't white, so it was a good day. The closest thing to red available was Tiger's Blood. Mason enjoyed it thoroughly until the ice level was below the top of the cup. The quality of the Slurpee straw/spoon left something to be desired for scooping, so Dad's answer was to let the ice melt and put the "juice" in Mason's cup. It worked out great for the little boy, and was a perfect treat for a hot afternoon.

Brain freeze in action