Live Free or Die ~New Hampshire

Two weeks ago we had fun studying about the state of New Hampshire. As with all of the Eastern states that we have studied so far we have never visited there. I will have to say that when reading about this state I actually thought, I wouldn't mind living there. I would be willing to live anywhere that I believed God wanted me to be but there are some states that I am more attracted to than others. I love MN and it takes a lot in my mind to come close to it in attractiveness.


Here are some facts about New Hampshire:

• The state tree is the White Birch (the same as what I am standing by in the picture. We have them and love them in MN too.)
• The state insect is the Lady Bug.
• The state bird is the Purple Finch
• The state animal is the White tailed deer.
• The state flower is the purple Lilac.
• The first primary election in the US is held in New Hampshire. So even though it is a tiny state it is a big deal at that time.
• It was the 9th state admitted on June 21, 1788
• It's capital is Concord a fairly small city.
• The is no income or sales tax in the state.
• As of 10 years ago they had the lowest percent of people in the US living below the poverty level.
• Franklin Pierce is the only president to come from New Hampshire.

Here are some of the foods we enjoyed while studying New Hampshire:

• Pumpkin Pancakes from Carter Notch Inn in Jackson, New Hampshire.
• Pumpkin Muffins from Sugar Hill Inn in Sugar Hill, New Hampshire.
• Coco-Nut-Chip cookies from the Inn at Ellis River in Jackson, New Hampshire.
• New Hampshire Easy Apple Cake.
• We also had Maple Flavored Syrup. I love the real thing but we were out and I am not willing to pay the price to buy it.

We did have a lot of fun learning about this state and looking at the pictures of the gorgeous scenery in our books. We would love to be able to go there and explore some day!

What do you know and like about New Hampshire?

Our "Almost Spring Tea Party"

On Wednesday day afternoon at around 4 pm (the proper hour for tea) we had a tea party at our house. In our manners book we have been reading about how to have a proper tea and thought that it would be fun to have one while the Corders were here and since Martha and her kids are back in the area. So Keren and Martha and children came over and we had a proper tea time.

This (above) was the table for the middle aged in our group(Mara, Aaron, Molly, Jonathan and Kelsey). Mara read up on how to be a proper hostess and she presided over this table.




At their table we used our napkins (that had come from my Grandma) that were edged with rick rack, we found some green vinca vines outside that we washed up to decorate each plate with and then Mara made name cards and we also added a chocolate egg.



This was the young folks table with Heidi, McKayla, Megan and Lars. We put Megan in charge but since she was still a little sleepy from her nap we had to give her a little help. Lars had been all dressed up in a vest and all to come to the party but that was soon chocolate covered. This was quite a cute group who for the most part just drank milk.

Here is the old folks table (missing me). We used the narcissus that I had grown for decoration.

For yummy things to eat we had Juneberry Scones (our manners book had a yummy recipe for scones that were supposed to have raisins or currants but we used Juneberries as that is what we had). Scones are the proper thing to have at tea. We also had cucumber sandwiches with are made with thinly sliced cucumbers and cream cheese. That was another thing that our manners book said was neccasary. We hadn't had them before but we really enjoyed them. For our tea we offered herbal teas, either peppermint or blueberry with it we offered sugar and cream.

We had fun at our tea party. I think it would be fun to have a another one outside this summer.

Super Saving Saturday

I had a fun trip to Walgreens this week so I thought I would share. It was a very easy one and I did have to pay money out of pocket as I was out of Register Rewards and gift cards but that is okay.
I had a $5 coupon for the flameless candle, a $1 coupon for the Garnier Skin Renew and a $1 coupon for the Raisin Bran. (All the coupons I printed off the Internet.) After coupons and tax I did pay $15.30. However I will be getting $16.49 back on a Walgreens gift card(the rebate plus 10%). So I will make a little over $1 for that shopping trip.
The candle I don't need but I will put it in my gift box. I like having things like that on hand so if I need a gift quickly it is ready to go. The cereal we will eat and the other stuff should be nice for my face.
To see other's fun savings visit Money saving Mom

Bits and pieces about South Carolina

If anybody has been following our studying of the States you probably figured we had given up on it or something as I have been horrible about posting on it. We have still been diligently reading and eating our way through the states, I just have not gotten around to posting. So I am going to try to get up to date on that in the next day or so.





The last week in February we were studying about South Carolina. I didn't find a lot of recipes from there (At least not that had ingredients that were in our budget or sounded good to us.) Tobacco is their most profitable crop but we though it would be better not to try it out. :-)


We did eat Sausage Perlou, Fruit Salad with peaches in it and drank Sweet Tea (thought I have to admit I did cut down on the sugar in that recipe. I am not used to drinking syrup.).

The book on South Carolina from the "America the Beautiful" Series had a recipe for Shrimp Perlou but said you could substitute sausage or chicken or any other meat. It is basically meat, onion, tomatoes, rice and seasoning cooked together. It was pretty good. The book said that it is the main rice dish of South Carolina and the most famous. I also found another recipe called "Chicken Bog" that sounded pretty good and easy but it was similar to the Perlou so I didn't think I needed to make both in one week. The Chicken Bog is a lowcountry recipe. The term "low country" is used to describe the coastal area.

Other crops grown in South Carolina are soybeans, corn, wheat, cotton and peaches. (South Carolina actually leads all other states in the production of peaches.) There are also cattle, dairy, eggs, chicken, turkey and ham that comes from South Carolina. We ate or wore the items that are in bold.

Some things we found interesting about South Carolina were:

• It was the 8th state to join the union on May 23, 1788
• South Carolina was the first state to leave the union in 1860.
• South Carolina was nearly destroyed by the civil war.
• Francis Marion (the "Swamp Fox" of the American Revolution) was from South Carolina
• Strom Thurmond the longest serving U.S. senator is from South Carolina.
• Charleston was a huge center for the arts and culture. It was there that many of the first theaters, museums, etc were in the US.
• Kevin Garnett (who played for the MN Timberwolves) is from S. Carolina.

Some things that we would love to go see are:

• The Cypress gardens near Charleston.
• The White-Water falls on the border between North and South Carolina.
• A peach farm.
• Beaufort, S. Carolina to attend the Gullah Cultural Festival.
• Charleston's historic district to see the 73 buildings that were built before the Revolutionary war and the 600 or so others that were built before the 1840's. We don't have buildings that old up around here and I would find that quite fascinating.

We did enjoy reading about this state. In many ways it sounds like it is a totally different world from MN and I would find it very fun to go visit it. If any of you are from there I would love to hear anything you have to say about your state.

Also this week we have been studying about New York and would love to hear about there and next week is North Carolina and we welcome any info about that state!

Fun and frugal things to do in the Spring!

Happy Spring to all of you! We are very excited around here that Spring has arrived. I honestly do like winter and the beautiful snow, frosty trees, ice on the lake and all the fun things to do but still when Spring comes it is so very welcome each and every year! Living in Northern Minnesota even though it is officially Spring it will still be a while before we are completely without snow and can work in our gardens. However we still can enjoy the springtime.



This morning my kids and I had a fun time thinking of some things that are fun (and FRUGAL!) to do in the Springtime. Most of them are very simple day to day things but are still a lot of fun. We can do them with a joyful attitude because God has given us Spring, full of new life and promise of good things to come.

• Take a bike ride. Now that the snow is off the road and we can bundle up a little less, bike riding is a very fun thing to do. (From Aaron)


• Go play in the woods.(from Mara who truly loves the outdoors)


• Find books about Spring at the Library and have fun reading them together.


• Fly a kite.(here are some plans for making your own)


• Listen and watch for birds. Mara reported hearing the Chickadee singing its Spring song and I saw a Canadian goose flying by.


• Plant some seeds. (from Jonathan) If your weather is like ours you can plant them inside or if you live in a warmer area you can plant them outside.


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  Make a bird house (from Jonathan) Go here to find some directions.


• Go to a farm and see the baby animals.


• Tap some Maple trees and make some maple syrup. We don't get to do this at our place as we don't have any maple trees but my parents do. They tapped them this week (which unfortunately we missed out on) but they will be working on collecting and boiling down for several weeks now. We are looking forward to going out and helping with that.


• Have a tea party.


• Go out and have fun swinging on a swing. (from Aaron)


• Climb trees (from Mara)


• Jump Rope (from Jonathan)


• Pull out the sidewalk chalk and have fun making some outdoor art.


• Play a game of catch.


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  Pull out the mud boots and have fun stepping in mud puddles.


• Make some cards with Spring things on them and then have fun sending them to people.


• Do some Spring cleaning.


• Plan the garden. Every year before I plant I like to make a plan on paper to show where everything will go.


• Make an origami boat to float in the mud puddles.


• Blow bubbles.

What are some things that you like to do in the Spring?

For more Frugal ideas, visit Frugal Friday at Biblical Womanhood.








I am sorry the pictures are laid out so weirdly, when I get so many of them they seem to have a mind of their own and no matter how much I edit I can't seem to get them right.