Big N loves trains!

Big N received a train from his Uncle Brian for his birthday. We let him take it out on special occasions because it is more fragile than anything he normally plays with. This occasion warranted a song and dance.


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The big fence project

I caught Pete working on the fence yesterday...



Its a little hard to see the orange line on the fly rod, but this was a break to practice casting a fly rod.

To his credit, he has been slaving away at this fence for weeks now and he just received this fly rod.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

You would think that this wouldn't be my first pie recipe post, but it is.



Today we are celebrating Father's day a little early. In honor of the day, I am making one of Pete's favorite desserts, Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. The recipe grew out of suggestion to saute the rhubarb from a friend of mine and my strawberry rhubarb jam recipe.

I use the perfect pie crust recipe for all my crusts. I have the pie crust recipe memorized, I've made it so often.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

2 cups Strawberries, cleaned, hulled and sliced
2 cups rhubarb, diced
2 Tablespoons butter
4 Tablespoons corn starch
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

My pie plate is 7 inches across. For a 9 inch pie, add more strawberries and rhubarb. I also like to taste more of the fruit. You may want to add in 1/2 cup more of sugar if the strawberries are too tart for you.

Make a 2 pie crust following the perfect pie crust recipe or your favorite pie crust recipe.

Melt the 4 Tablespoons butter over low heat in a large saute pan and add the diced rhubarb. Gently saute to soften and release some liquid. Spoon into a bowl, leaving as much liquid behind as possible and set aside. Let cool.

Roll out your bottom crust and line the pie plate and set aside.

Add the strawberries to the cooled rhubarb. In a small bowl, mix the sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon. Add the sugar mixture to the strawberry rhubarb mixture and gently fold in. Pour filling into prepared crust.



Roll out top crust and place on top of the pie. Crimp edges and slice top to allow steam to escape.



Place on top of a baking sheet or plan to scrub your oven. Bake in a 375 degree F oven for 25 minutes. Lower temperature to 325 degrees F and bake for an additional 30-45 minutes, or until crust is browned to your liking. Wrap the edges in foil for the last 20 minutes of baking to keep the edges from getting too dark.

Enjoy!

Tooth Fairy

The tooth fairy came to visit Little N while she slept last night. The tooth fairy left five dollar coins in Little N's borrowed tooth pillow. However, Little N's wild sleeping habits sent the pillow flying and one of the dollars disappeared.

Little N was disappointed, Big N was convinced her tooth must not have been clean enough since there was only $4 in the pillow. Big N had received $5 for his first lost tooth just over a month ago. This really didn't help the morning go well.

Luckily, we did find missing dollar this evening. It had become tangled up inside her pillow case. As far as Little N is concerned, all is now right with the world.

The tooth fairy and I need to chat about possibly switching to paper money in the future.

Toothless Tuesday

Little N lost her first tooth yesterday evening! I was horribly unprepared, expecting her first tooth to come out much later using her older brother as a reference. Once again, I have proven to myself that by having two children all I am really sure of is how completely different they both can be.

Luckily for me, Big N jumped in and offered his monster tooth pillow for the tooth fairy visit. Little N was un-phased at not having her own pillow. In fact, I think she was very excited to use Big N's special pillow. He was very excited to let her share it, which brought out a little bit of my momma pride in him. It was a sweet moment in the household.

My little girl is growing up so fast and enjoying her toothless Tuesday.

Little N is ready for the summer!

My latest project has been a swim suit cover-up for Little N. It had to twirl and it needed a hood for wet hair. I also thought a pocket would be nice. The cover-up is loosely based off of one I came across on crafterhours blog. I used a sweatshirt to build my pattern and added a big front pocket.

Little N could not have been more thrilled with the outcome. She wants to wear it as a dress.

I started with two towels with complementary colors in them.


I then traced a dress that fit's Little N well and added a very generous seam allowance. My thoughts are that the beach cover-up should be loose and slightly large. I made the dress a little boxier. I also shortened it and planned on a 7-inch ruffle on the bottom of the dress. I used a sweatshirt to figure out how large the hood should be and how to modify the back piece to attach the hood.

I used my overlock machine for all of the seams. I only ended up using the sewing machine to attach the pockets, bias binding and hem the bottom.

I have one happy little girl who is ready to swim!

Sallie Mae

What is the definition of predatory Lending?

Definition
Any of a number of fraudulent, deceptive, discriminatory, or unfavorable lending practices. Many of these practices are illegal, while others are legal but not in the best interest of the borrowers.

Sallie Mae is by definition a company with a number of unfavorable lending practices. At this point, let's disregard the fact that a student loan can never be discharged in a bankruptcy. First and foremost, the company makes it impossible to pay down your principal. It is only possible to pay down your principal if you make a payment that is at least double your required payment and it must then be accompanied by a letter stating that you want the excess to apply to the principal. Without meeting this criteria, any overpayment is instead a pre-payment of complete future payments beginning with interest and fees not even incurred. In contrast, the government regulates that an overpayment of a credit card payment MUST go towards principal. (FDIC 226.53) Why on earth is the same rule not in place for Student Loans?

My student loan was consolidated into a 30 year debt. I have made significant over-payments to my student loan over the last 10 years. I recently spoke to Sallie Mae to determine why my balance is not lower. My expected date to have the loan paid off has not budged, even though I have sent in payments that meet the stringent requirements of paying the principal. The extra payments have only pre-paid my debt. Meaning, I have already paid the future interest. At this point, I will still have the loan after my son finishes college. In addition, the company will not answer my questions when I inquire regarding a payment history.

It is now legal for the Student Loan companies to garnish your social security payments if you default on your student loan. With the expected rate of rising tuition rates where they are, it is also possible that if my my seven year old goes to college he will still be paying back his loans when he is eligible for social security. Let alone, if he has a financial hardship, this loan will never go away.

It is alarming. Everything that Sallie Mae does is legal and is not at all in the best interest of the consumer. By definition, this is predatory lending.

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