my list of things to learn how to do

there are so many things i want to know how to do and how to do right. i am constantly getting books from the library to read up on things, however i often chicken out for fear of failing i guess. here are the most recent Top Ten list of things i want to learn how to do and this blog is to document my "attempts" at doing them.

1. canning/preserving my garden's harvest
2. composting
3. homeschooling
4. raising good kids in a crazy generation of kids
5. more on geocaching (we've started on this journey, but i want to take it to the next level)
6. sewing harder projects than a pair of coulots.
7. build a chicken coop and raise chickens
8. learn how to crochet successfully!
9. spend less and save more
10. become as self sufficient as possible

One of my most recent "spend less and save more" lessons came about last friday. we had planned for over a month on going geocaching with friends of ours. however when the day came, the weather forcast was 94 and humid! not a good day to go geocaching. so i racked my brain to come up with an idea that the kids would have fun AND was cheap-free. well i came up with an activity that was free and indoors but we did spend $ on lunch. i kept thinking, too bad there isn't a bunch of geocaches in the mall, however the muggle factor is too high, however again, that doesn't mean we couldn't have a good old fashioned scavenger hunt there (get how my mind works, well a little, but anyway). so i pulled up a list online of all the stores currently in the mall and made a list of things i thought would be in certain stores. the funny thing was they found several things in places i never would have expected them too! the following is some pics of the day. the kids had a blast, it was alot of walking which wore them out and we quit when they were too tired to keep going cuz there was no set time frame. i highly suggest if you follow in our steps, also making a long list, that way they won't run out of things to look for. but if by chance they do, you can always add to the list with things you see while they are searching. we also took a picture of each find to make a cute scrapbook later. we started by eating lunch at the food court so that bellies were full and kids were happy.

the search begins....



A store with the word "ice" in it, close enough.....



A rainbow striped bathing suit, i did NOT expect that to be found at build a bear! haha!




Just an fyi, bath and body does not allow pictures taken inside their store....can't figure out why, but, don't plan a pic in there!


a shoe with a face on it, they each found one with the help of the sales person! :-)

the item: a card with an old man on it....they found 2 and frankie posed as one!

i must say, the sales people in the mall were all great and some even excited to help them out, here they were looking for a watch that glowed in the dark, once found, the lady took it out and let them hold it for a picture.

a music cd....again frankie posing his disgust of the particular cd.....

i'm sure over time i will have to come up with more free to low cost things to do, for now, we love to go to the library, go bowling for free, just sign up at kidsbowlfree.com, go geocaching (check that out at geocaching.com) which is free except for your gas and swim in our pool at home. we also have had fun doing some fairly inexpensive crafts at home, but that is for another blog.....