Blessed wife and momma

Been a little "under the weather"

2009-03-05T10:17:00.002-06:00

We have had some of the crud that is going around but I also have been having some other issues and was not able to spend much time on the computer. I am praying that I am better and will be doing some updating and adding lots of posts. I am going to be speaking at our homeschool group when we have what are called Mini-groups. There will be various topics being spoken about at the same time. Mine is about saving money in the kitchen. When I get that finished I will post it on here.
I need to go make bread. I have made a sourdough a few times but I don't like how it has turned out so I am going to make the bread that I made on here again. I really like this bread and I know that it works.

I am here- alive- but ended up getting the "crud" that is going around

2009-02-21T19:29:00.002-06:00

I thought I would post while I was sitting here in bed- yes bed. How does a mother of lots manage to get into bed at 7 on a Saturday night? I can tell you it wasn't easy. I have planned school today, washed clothes, cleaned, prepped in the kitchen, prepped for Church in the morning and I am not feeling well. I said that I am done so I am taking a break and looking around the net and eating ice cream. Ice cream is sickness cure isn't it? I was always taught that. I did put a banana in it to make it healthy. ;-)
I have a kombucha scoby and made my tea and now have it fermenting. I have my sourdough souring too. Now that we are in a house again, I am going to try and do as much healthy stuff that I can. I would like to add that we are not very healthy. We eat too much stuff that we shouldn't, i.e. the ice cream, but I do try to make what I can and be as healthy as we can be. I know I have said this before, but it is really nice to be back in a house in my hometown with our family and friends. I hope to keep working on my blog and changing a few things around.

Tassajara Bread Recipe

2009-02-05T10:17:00.002-06:00

As I said yesterday, I made homemade whole wheat bread yesterday. Guess what, not only did it turn out great, it tasted fabulous! My kids LOVED it. It wasn't hard to make. I can definitely see myself making this a few times a week. If you decided to try it, you can play with it a bit. My loaves weren't as big as I would have liked, but they were big enough. I think I needed more liquid, but I will make this as close to the recipe as possible another time before I change things. I tweak and change things all of the time, but when it comes to bread, I am not that comfortable with changing ingredients or amounts. This recipe made two loaves for me that had a good crumb and made great slices. Without any more chatter, here is the recipe:

1 1/2 Tbl Yeast
3 C Lukewarm Water
1/4 C Honey or molasses (I think brown sugar can be used to)
1 C Dry milk
7-8 Whole wheat flour
4 t Salt
1/3 C Oil or melted butter
Egg wash (I didn't use)

Take out a large bowl and put in yeast and water. Mix until yeast dissolves. Stir in honey or molasses and dry milk. Once the sweetener and milk are mixed in, start stirring in 4 cups of the flour. This needs to be like mud. Once the 4 cups of flour are mixed in, you need to keep stirring for 100 strokes. Put the bowl in a warm spot to allow the dough to rise, about 45 minutes. You just made a bread sponge.
After the sponge has rested and risen, it is now time to add the rest of the ingredients. Stir in the salt and oil. Once those are mixed in, you need to start adding in 3 more cups of the flour, one cup at a time. You might or might not need the extra cup of flour. I think it depends on humidity or something like that (although I am not sure). I just add enough to where the dough is just barely sticky. Once the flour is mixed in, it is time to knead it. Knead the dough for ten minutes, until it is nice and smooth. Put the dough ball in a bowl that has been coated with oil. When you put the ball in, flip it over. You are coating both sides of the dough with oil. Allow to rise until double, around 40-60 minutes. Punch down the dough and let rise again, until double in size, around 40-60 minutes.
Take dough out of bowl and separate into two equal loaves. Place your dough into bread pans that have been greased with butter or oil. Smoosh and smash the dough into the pan until it fills the entire bottom of the pan fairly evenly. Now, flip the bread over. Do this to the second piece of dough. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes to 1 hour. Supposedly if you tap your bread and it sounds hollow, it is done. I just wait until the house smells like bread and the top is starting to get brown. This took around 40 minutes. As soon as the bread is out of the oven, take out of bread pans and let cool on a rack. Once cool, slice and eat.

Making things from scratch again- Yay!

2009-02-04T13:50:00.002-06:00

I am starting to get back into the swing of things in the kitchen. I have not made homemade wholewheat bread in a while, but today I made two loaves. I don't have have things to make it easier, I did the kneaded myself. I actually enjoyed this today. I haven't tasted it yet but I do hope it tastes great. I also made buttermilk for the first time. I plan on making old fashioned buttermilk pancakes for breakfast tomorrow, but you have to have part of the mixture soak overnight.
I am really hoping to get Kombucha going again soon. I don't have a scoby and I really hope that someone in the local homeschool group makes their own so I can get a scoby- but if not, I will see if the healthfood store has some.
I really, really miss traveling and being on the road, but I also really, really enjoy being in a house again and being creative in the kitchen. The kids are flourishing in church and at home- no complaints here!! If the bread tastes good, I will post the recipe on here tomorrow. :-)

Menu for the week

2009-02-02T14:35:00.003-06:00

Here is my menu for the week:
Monday- Homemade chicken noodle soup
Tuesday- Enchiladas with refried beans, Mexican rice and guacamole
Wednesday-Spaghetti with salad and breadsticks
Thursday- Salsa chicken casserole with leftover refried beans
Friday-Eating at friends and watching Fireproof
Saturday- Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and another veggie
Sunday-Leftovers (plan to make enough meatloaf for either meatloaf sandwiches or a repeat of Saturday's meal)

Life resumes its' normal speed

2009-01-31T12:50:00.002-06:00

Living in a house again has been fun, rejuvenating and easy to get back into the flow of things. I really do miss traveling and getting out everyday and "doing stuff", however, this just feels so natural again. Getting up, doing my morning routine, getting school going, cooking meals INSIDE, etc. We are hoping to get a garden going soon too. I have found a few things out while setting up home again....
1. It is much easier to clean when you have less stuff. I know we have all heard the stuff about decluttering but I don't think I have actually followed through completely. We only had what would fit inside of a very small space, approximately 7X12. We had no knickknacks or any of those types of items. Our house is now decorated very simply and guess what, it is much easier to clean. If I am going to bring more things in, I will see what I can remove. No need adding more clutter and dust collectors- I have better things to do with my time.
2. By keeping things simple, it frees up my time. I have more time to spend with my kids, homeschooling, cooking and my own interests. I have been spending some time in eschatology and garden planning. I remember often feeling like I was always playing catch up. Not so now. I know that I have things to do, but I am able to stay on top of things. This isn't because I am SuperMom (although I joke sometimes about that) but it has to do with starting back up with not much and freeing up my time.
3. Because of 1 and 2, I have much more peace in my life. I am able to spend my time on the things are much more important, my relationship with God, my husband, my children and my friends!
I guess decluttering properly really does make a difference!!!!

Bad weather day

2009-01-27T11:58:00.002-06:00

Well, sort of. Hubby is working from home today. He has been doing some work for his old boss and since they are calling for ice, he is able to get all of his work done from home. We had our home phone turned on today. Yippee!! I haven't had a phone, and it has been hard. One night dh ended working till almost 10, and I didn't have a phone for him to let me know. Now we have one and I already feel so much better. One thing about homeschooling, we can school during ice storms or not. We are at least getting the basics done and I will do our read aloud and history after lunch.
I have a hard time coming up with a menu that I will stick with. I might try my hand at stretchy beans. I am not sure if Robin at LentilsandRiceblogspot (she has stopped posting for a bit and taken her stuff off the blog) coined that phrase or not, but I think it is a great idea. You make a lb of beans go farther than one meal, usually 3. She really had great frugal and healthy ideas using her stretchy bean recipes. Here is an example of how me sticking with a recipe doesn't exactly work- I used 1 1/2 lb pinto beans and cooked them in the CP. I them made them into refried beans with some seasonings and a half pound of chorizo. Friday night we had burritos with the beans, a little cheese, sour cream, lettuce and salsa. Saturday I made the beans into nachos. There was still plenty left, so I threw two chicken breasts in the CP, add a bit of salsa and taco seasoning and let that cook while we were at church. I made Mexican rice when we came back and we had chicken tacos, Mexican rice and refried beans. There was still a little bit of those beans left, so I combined the leftover chicken and refried beans, and a can of kidney beans that I mashed into the bean and chicken mix. I spread this onto tostada shells and topped with a sprinkling of quesadilla cheese. So, I managed to stretch the pot of refried beans into almost 4 meals. We were feeding an extra kid for 3 of these meals, so I might have had enoough to make this 4th meal. I hope I can do at least one stretchy bean cycle once a week. Beans are cheap and nutritious, which is a plus for me. DH still doesn't have an official job and things are about to get really tight. Time to really get creative. :-)

Busy weekend

2009-01-26T19:41:00.003-06:00

We had a busy weekend. My dd's had a cousin stay the night all weekend and my oldest dd had a birthday and party. We had a house full on Sunday and it was a blast. All of the girls made various drawings and art items and hung them up around the house. There were streamers hung from the ceiling and balloons blown up. I made chocolate cupcakes and vanilla cupcakes and made a filling for them. I made homemade chocolate frosting for the chocolate cupcakes and a vanilla buttercream for the vanilla cupcakes. The chocolate ones were so delicious, the reminded me of a Hostess cupcake, but better. I liked the vanilla ones, but the chocolate was mmmmmmmmmmm good! It has been a while since have had a large gathering at our house. Oh yeah, we are in a house. It is an amazing story. I don't have time to go into details right now, but we are in a house with plenty of room for us. We are very happy with where we are and with what the Lord has provided.
I will try and get back with menus and such, but for the moment I am working on building up my pantry again (which is my weapon for eating cheaply, yet well).

It looks like we are back!

2009-01-24T10:30:00.002-06:00

The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.
Well, after all of the planning and research, it looks like we might be settling down again. This wasn't our plan nor our intention. We have lots of plans to see the western part of the US. However, the Lord has provided a house that has most of the furniture we need in it, at a great price. This was just basically handed to us. We weren't looking nor were we planning on staying. The kids are so happy. To be honest, they haven't been this happy in a while. They are great kids and love to be together with their family, but to be back "home" is something that they are absolutely thrilled with. There are no complaints with me either. We have gotten back in the swing of things here. We are signed up for classes with our homeschool co-op, volunteering with the church, having friends over, we even went on a field trip.
I am hoping to be a regular blogger again (was I ever a regular blogger?). I am also hoping to join another one with this one.
It is nice to be "back"!

Sourdough

2008-09-23T07:00:00.002-05:00

I made a sourdough starter in New York (I think) and have kept it going and have made a few things from it. Last night I made some fabulous sourdough biscuits to go with our dinner. They really helped round out our meal and fill those little bellies.
Here is the recipe I used- I pretty much did it exactly right although I guessed on the salt, baking powder and soda. I also used milk with vinegar added for the buttermilk. The biscuits were soft, fluffy and tall. I might keep experimenting with various recipes but this one was really delicious.

http://recipes.cookingfor2.com/eRMS/Recp_fullpage.aspx?recid=15244

Chicken Quesadillas Recipe

2008-09-04T11:34:00.002-05:00

Here is what I am making for lunch
1 Lb Cooked Shredded Chicken
1 Can Cheese Soup (I don't know why I have this, but I do)
1/2 C Salsa
Mix all together over med to med/low heat
Lay about 1/4 cup on half of a tortilla. Fold other half over. Cook in skillet with butter or in oven at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes. Serve hot.

Video that all Christians should watch

2008-09-04T10:43:00.002-05:00

I was shared this video today and feel that it is worth sharing with others:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBKD6zrHzM0&feature=related

Life on the road

2008-09-04T08:36:00.002-05:00

Well, we have been traveling for over a month now. There have been a few ups and downs, lots of mistakes, err learning, sprinkled with lots of laughter. Adjusting to only a bit of square feet for 7 people has been quite an adjustment. I still have lots of learning to do, but things are getting better. One area, besides "housekeeping" that has been an adjustment, is cooking. When we first started, we ate fairly healthy and then it went downhill. With us being on a budget, and me not traveling with a pantry, we were eating dollar store food. I wasn't prepared at all for this. I have been doing some thinking and planning and have even started a sourdough starter. I need to make a few changes all around, but I really need to get our eating situation under control. I have to find a way to eat on a budget without the use of a large pantry (a small one is ok, but nothing big), a large fridge and no freezer. We have an ice chest and a small Coleman Cooler. I had a CP but forgot my lid, so I threw it away. Now I am on the look out for a CP at a second hand store. I know that will give me a few more options.
Having dh around fulltime has been great. Sometimes he has to go to the main lodge area for their WiFi because we don't get a good signal with the Air Card but that is ok. The kids do school during that time. We asked the kids if they want to go back to a house or keep traveling and they unanimously said keep on traveling. That was nice to hear. I know everything hasn't been an easy transition. They are doing great and thoroughly enjoying themselves. It has been wonderful to get out and enjoy so much with them. I haven't heard but a few "I'm Bored's". I really thought I would have heard a lot of those by now.
I am hoping to start putting some of my recipes on here for safe-keeping. If I knew what I was doing, I would add a section to one of our websites with the recipes, but that is dh's department.
I'll touch-base again later.

Recipe and new site

2008-08-19T17:23:00.002-05:00

Well, I am still alive and finally able to post. Life became so hectic and exhausting that I didn't even have time to get on here and share the recipe. We have been traveling since August first. I have had a little time and posted a few entries in our family blog about what we are doing but barely. I honestly thought that life would be so much more laid back and I would have time-a-plenty to blog and read but that hasn't been the case. I am sure those days are coming but for now I am taking the snippets that I can to post. Here is a link to the recipe that I mentioned. The pancakes were wonderful and saved so much morning time for me. I made a few changes but not many. I used half whole wheat flour, added ground flaxseed, increased the sugar to 4 T and ended up adding more flour than called for the next morning. I also didn't use regular buttermilk, I used milk with vinegar. Here is the link http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Overnight-Pancakes/Detail.aspx
I hope you try them and enjoy them as much as we did.
Here is a link to our website www.7ontheroad.com
We have information on there about what we are doing and a link to a few blogs that we are doing as a family.
Well, gotta run. We are making a pitstop before we get to our next destination- Jefferson, OH.

I Am Amazed at how Quckly Time Passes

2008-06-18T10:16:00.003-05:00

I have been busy with lots of different things that are going on in our family right now. When I decided that I better get over to blogger to finally post I couldn't believe how long it has been since I lasted blogged! There have been so many times I wanted to post something but just never found the time to log in and blog about it.
My family is about to undertake a very big change in our lives. Basically we are selling most of our possessions, giving away just about everything and will store a few things we are willing to part with. We will then pack up the few things that are left and will then head out on the road. No we aren't crazy, no we haven't lost our minds, no we aren't going through a crisis. This is something that we have prayed about for a while and feel God is leading us in this direction. Not only will we be able to spend more time together as a family, we are also hoping to be able to minister to others as we travel. Our time on Earth is short. We really need to embrace everyday as the time it is since we don't know when our last day is. We will be able to do so much more together and spend time as a complete family (when dh is gone, I don't feel we are complete).
We do have a website but dh hasn't done much with it yet- he has been much busier than I have. He had 36 hours of OT this past payday! We are hoping to use the site to chronicle our journey and also share our story with others.
Well, now you know where I have been and what I have been up to- packing, planning, building, planning, plus homeschooling and all of the other day-to-day stuff that goes on.

No longer a baby

2008-04-04T19:52:00.002-05:00

Life has been busy as usual. Who doesn't have a busy life these days? Anyway, there are going to be a few changes in our lives in a couple of months. My wonderful dh and I have been busy doing a lot of talking, planning and some working. I will post about that soon but my post for now is about how fast our children grow up.
I know about babies and what they are like- I know how wonderful they are and how they make us feel- how much work they can be but at the same time the joy they can give. Well, my "baby" is 5 (getting close to 6) but is no longer a baby. This week his bottom teeth were hurting him so I checked them out, they are loose! I was a little upset by that. I am not quite ready to be completely done with the firsts and the new experiences, I am not quite ready for my kids to grow up. Tonight I was urgently called outside to see something. I thought dh needed me but it was my 5 yo ds. He was riding a bike with no training wheels. To be honest, I was quite fine with him riding a bike with training wheels for another 5 years.
In reality I know that children grow up, I was a child once and now I have my own children. But, sigh, it is so hard to go through this. I loved being pregnant and having babies. I completely enjoyed adding a precious new family member to our family. It was so wonderful. I have left the part of my life of adding new babies to our family and so this is more than likely the last of our firsts.
How quickly children grow up. I do not feel like I have been a mother for as long as I have, time has just flown by. I was watching a show today (Kids by the Dozen, I think), and the mom said she wishes she could freeze all of the kids where they are and when she is ready for grandkids, unfreeze them. That is how I feel right now. I am not quite ready for my kids to grow up.

Sickness just won't leave

2008-03-17T08:07:00.002-05:00

Well- I hoped that I/we were done with being sick but that isn't how it happened. We ended up having the flu. DH had it the worst. He ended up missing everyday last week at work. We aren't sure if he got paid for 4 of those days or not. We are hoping so. His birthday was last week too. I felt so sorry for him feeling so terrible and then to be sick on his birthday. I am feeling so much better today and think I am ready to get back into the swing of things.
I am going to start doing some spring cleaning. I plan on following (with my own little adaption) the Woman's Day 30 Days to a Clean House. The house could use it and so could I. The snow is melting, after a record year. Spring is finally appearing up here in Wisconsin and we are so ready.
I will try to post my menu today. I need to get everyone moving this morning, I don't think the kids are ready for it to be Monday.

Life is ...........

2008-03-06T12:15:00.003-06:00

Well- life has intervened again and I lost track of lots of things, including my blog.
Besides me being sick and trying to keep up with the kids, the house and meals, our family suffered a terrible tragedy. I don't know if I will ever post about it or not, but it has not only affected our family but an entire community. My family, other families and a community will never be the same. I have been trying to grasp the reality of it, although, I don't think I will ever be able to. Something that I have noticed in the past is that time doesn't stand still, life goes on. This time, it was more than obvious that life goes on and that hardly anyone pauses. To the news media, it was just a tragic story but to the few involved, our lives are forever changed. So, I have been a tad preoccupied lately.
I will try to get back to posting soon, it is time for my menu and grocery shopping anyway and I like keeping track of everything on here. I have lost my written menu before and ended up using what I had posted to write a new one.
I do hope that everyone else is having a fabulous beginning of a year and are managing to make ends meet with rising cost of everything. Life here has been super slow at times and then at others, I feel like I need a break. This is a busy month for us (and I think lots of people). I turn 33 this month and my dh turns 34. I guess time just keeps marching on.

Shopping success

2008-01-12T17:13:00.000-06:00

We went to two different grocery stores today. We managed to go to Aldi and Save-a-Lot and were only gone for 2 hours. If hubby wouldn't have wanted to get something for lunch it would have been a lot quicker. I had something planned for lunch but we left a lot later because he got a few business calls before we left. So, what I had planned for lunch we are having for dinner. And what I was planning on tonight's dinner we will have for lunch tomorrow. We were going to have our leftover chili from Friday night's dinner on top of baked potatoes.
Here is what we had today
B-Fried oatmeal with homemade syrup (everyone loved it)
L- Taco Bell
D-Meat roll-up (bread made in bread machine with a meat mixture and a little cheese rolled up and baked) with a few veggies on the side

For around $225 today, I got enough food for dinners to last us until the end of the month. We will need to get more fresh fruits and veggies and dairy but I am hoping that it won't go over $100 for any of the other things we end up buying. The sides vary from fresh salads and frozen veggies to baked potatoes and canned veggies. Here is the list of dinner items I will be able to make for the rest of the month:
We will be having a special dinner since the Cowboys are in the playoffs- Chicken wings, little smokies, cheese dip and chips, and various appetizer items
Spanish Noodle Skillet
Nasi Goreng- a fried rice
Vietnam style Fried rice
Hamburger Stew
Chicken Cheese Casserole
Santa Fe Chicken
Potato Soup
Cheddar Chowder
Chili
Mexican Chili beans with chicken pieces
Barley Cabbage soup
Shrimp
Pork Chops two times
Calico Ham and Bean Soup
Roasted Chicken two times
Chicken with Honey Baked Lentils
Black Bean Soup
Homemade tortillas with beans and toppings a few times
Addictive sweet potato burritos, although I might reserve these for lunches

I don't have meals set for certain days mostly because I don't follow a menu very well. I end up with leftovers that need to be used or I forget to soak beans or I am out of an ingredient or .... I do much better when I just have a list of items I can make and go from there.
I need to go for now, my girls are waiting to play a game with me.

Eating on a budget

2008-01-11T13:56:00.000-06:00

Eating on a budget can seem difficult if you have never done this before, but it really isn't difficult. There are many different ways to do this too, so you have options on how you want to make this work for you and your family. One of the ways that many ladies are reducing their food budget is by using coupons and shopping sales. I have heard of some absolutely incredible deals this way. Since I don't do this, I won't cover that here, but you can do a search and find more information than you can possible read over the weekend. I don't save this way, mostly because I don't buy foods that you can use coupons for. There might be a few here or there, but not enough for me to spend my time on. I try not to buy prepackaged foods and those are where you find most coupons. When was the last time you saw a coupon for bulk dried beans or bulk whole wheat flour? I do have some coupons for Hodgson Mill products that I contacted them directly for, which is something that anyone can do. If you use a product and like it, see if the company will send you coupons for what you do buy. I have heard of many people doing this with success.
One of the main things I do that helps us feed our family of 7 for less than 350 a month is to shop at the cheapest stores around. For our area those 2 are Aldi and Save-a-Lot. We will be hitting both of those this weekend. I don't know if our food budget will have to increase since I noticed that prices had gone up on many products at Aldi, I guess I will have to see this weekend. I suggest that you find out what the cheapest stores are in your area and use them.
Something else that I do that helps are food budget stay low is that I don't use meat as the main attraction very often. A roast chicken can be served for one meal, the rest of the chicken stripped and put into some sort of casserole for another meal and then the carcass used for a soup for another meal. We use ground meat for a lot of our meals and not roasts or steaks. If there is a good sale on roast, we will have a roast with lots of veggies and rolls for a meal. I make sure that there is some meat leftover so we can have it in a gravy served over potatoes, pasta, or some sort of bread. I do the same with chili and various other meals. I try to find ways to make things stretch without skimping.
I will be posting a 2 week menu later and you will be able to see the kinds of foods that we eat that are delicious, relatively healthy and very budget friendly.

A Wonderful Post

2008-01-10T15:02:00.000-06:00

While browsing a few blogs today I found this great article. I recommend that you read the article and see if you are up for the challenge!
http://homeschoolblogger.com/eic/453298/?#c898456

A Cute Video

2008-01-10T10:47:00.000-06:00

Here is a really cute video put together by a precious lady on a group I am on.
We really enjoyed it and think they did a wonderful job.
http://youtube.com/user/quiverof7

As a side note- We are still recovering. We slept in today and seem to be on the mend. I hope we are now on the upswing. We still feel pretty yucky but much better.

Happy new year!

Update

2008-01-09T11:12:00.000-06:00

We went to the ER last night since we couldn't get into the Dr's.
Most of us have an URI's - or colds- 4 of us now have conjunctivitis, better known a pink eye. We have an ointment we put in our eyes. 2 are on antibiotics for ear infections. The staff at the hospital was wonderful, absolutely wonderful. I couldn't have asked for a better experience there.
I feel worse today than yesterday and my ear is hurting but I am trying to treat myself with GSE, a natural antibiotic. If it doesn't get better, I will go in and see the Dr. I so wish that daddy's took off when mommy's were sick, or at least the kids would just as bad as mommy does. It is hard to deal with the day-to-day things when you don't feel well and some of the kids are sick and others have plenty of energy. Oh well, I can get through this. I just pray that my eyes don't get as bad as my girls and that hubby doesn't get sick. I can't imagine taking care of him too right now. : /
I hope everyone else is well and is having a great start to the new year.
I am off to lay down for a bit.

We are back from our vacation- but we are all sick

2008-01-08T10:18:00.000-06:00

We are back from our holiday vacation in Texas. There were so many emotions that we felt leaving family and friends behind, yet it did feel nice to lay in my own bed again. We had an absolutely wonderful time- except for the fact that we came home sick. We have never been sick like this. I am dealing with 5 kids who are sick, some with different symptoms. The doctor won't see them because I don't have their shot records. I guess they are in Texas somewhere because I never kept track. Since we homeschool, keeping track wasn't a priority as I had no one to show them to. My kids haven't seen a doctor in a few years now since we don't get sick and don't need to be seen for typical school reasons. 2 of my girls have eye infections, I think they have a cold in their eyes and it is highly contagious. My 8 yo dd looks terrible. I am treating everyone, including myself, for a cough that is terrible, a sore throat and a couple have ear aches. My hubby will take the girls with eye infections to urgent care when he gets home from work tonight. We will find out if there is anything else wrong and if it will be necessary to have the others be seen. I sure hope that we are all on the mend and my dd's will just need some special eye drops. It makes me so frustrated that they can choose not to see someone because they don't have their vaccination records and I am frustrated with myself. I feel like a terrible mother, if I had been more organized, they would have been able to be seen.
This isn't how I had planned on spending the start of the new year.
Well, I am off to check on the kids and start making homemade chicken soup with lots of onion and garlic.

Frugal Christmas ideas

2007-12-11T10:42:00.000-06:00

Frugal Christmas ideas

Here are a few things you can do to create a wonderful Christmas for the kids but not end up completely broke. If you have younger kids, this is a lot easier than if you have teenagers who think they have to have all of the latest items.

The first thing I suggest is finding out their top 2 or 3 items that they are wanting and do your best to get at least one of them. If you can’t afford to get any other presents, then that one will have to do.

You can take a calendar and depending on how many children you have, add a child to each month on whatever day you want. Then this child gets to pick what they want to do for the day, within reason of course. Going to the movies (it could be the cheap movies if needed), a picnic at the park, the zoo (a family pass is a great family gift), he could choose to spend the day at home and pick out the meals that he wants and then play games as a family. The list is almost endless. If you live near mountains or the ocean or other great natural areas, this could also be a choice that the child could choose. Spending the day hiking and packing a picnic is a wonderful day to spend as a family. If money is tight, then having a list for them to choose from, might be best. With this gift, you children are receiving gifts throughout the year. With us having 5 kids, each child would have their name on the calendar twice. Another variation to the calendar idea are coupon books. You can make them yourself or buy them. This could be put in a stocking for a stuffer or wrapped and put under the tree.

For girls, you can get various girly type things to put in a stocking. Things like lip gloss, fingernail polish, earrings, lotions, perfume or body sprays, make-up if they wear it, hair things, etc. For boys, little cars, comic books, any kind of small toy, action figures, yo-yos, etc. There are things that can be for either- stickers, pens, pencils, little pads to write or drawn in, candies, nuts, watches, cds and dvds, cards, gift certificates to a store, etc.

One of the things that I do is try to make the entire day a fun day. We start off with a fun breakfast- overnight frenchtoast bake, fruit tray with a dip, sleigh ride hot cocoa and maybe a breakfast meat. I try to get as much cooking done during the preceding days so that I don’t have to spend so much time cooking. We spend the day with family or with just us, but either way, the kids get to enjoy themselves the entire day. If they want to play games or watch movies, I try to make sure we do that. There are lots of goodies to eat and of course, plenty of things to play with.

I know there are more ideas to add to this, but I will have to end it for now. I am in the midst of goofy kids, spelling tests and an empty coffee cup. So, I will have to stop for now.

Menu for Dec 9-15

2007-12-10T09:40:00.000-06:00

Here is my menu for the week of December 9-15.

Sunday- Fellowship at a couple's house during the Packer game- we took cookies
Monday- CP Cooked Roast with carrots and potatoes, salad and homemade rolls
Tuesday-Chicken with biscuits
Wednesday- BBQ Beef sandwiches on homemade buns, fries and baked beans
Thursday- Leftovers- if not enough, I will take the beef and top baked potatoes with it
Friday- Chicken quesadillas with gauc and beans (we are going back to Milwaukee to the dentist so we will have this for lunch and take snacks with us to eat on the way home)
Saturday- Tortilla chip pie

This menu is pretty cheap- the beef was on sale this week and both times I use it, there should be enough for leftovers. I am pretty sure this weeks worth of dinners did not cost me more than $30. It was probably less than that, but I would rather round up than down.

Recipe

2007-12-04T19:32:00.000-06:00

Hey Veg- here are 2 recipes- I have ingredients for all of these, I was just planning on making whichever one I was in the mood for. Enjoy.

Hamburger Bean Casserole
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic -- crushed
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
1 can pork and beans -- (16 oz.)
1 can tomato sauce -- (8 oz.)
1 drop Biscuits -- See recipe|Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook and stir ground beef, onion and garlic in 10" skillet until beef is
brown; drain.

Mix beef mixture, mustard, pork and beans and tomato sauce in ungreased 1
1/2 quart round casserole.

Prepare Drop Biscuits as directed.

Drop by 6 spoonfuls onto beef mixture; sprinkle with cornmeal mixture.

Bake uncovered until biscuits are golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes.

Barbecue Beef And Bean Bake, Barbecue Baked Beans

Barbecue Beef And Bean Bake

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 sweet green pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 pound ground beef
1 can (16 ounces) baked beans
1 can (15 ounces) kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup bottled barbecue sauce
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon prepared spicy-brown mustard

Heat oven to 375. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and green pepper; cook, stirring, for 6 minutes or until softened. Add garlic and ground beef; cook, breaking up meat with wooden spoon, for 4 to 6 minutes or until meat is no longer pink. Carefully drain off excess liquid from skillet. Stir baked beans, kidney beans, barbecue sauce, molasses, Worcestershire and mustard into meat mixture. Scrape into 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish. Bake, uncovered, for 40 minutes, until liquid has evaporated and mixture thickened. Makes 6 servings.

Menu plan Sunday?

2007-12-02T16:45:00.000-06:00

I have a hard time putting up my menu on Monday since I do all of my planning on Friday and shopping on the weekend. When Monday rolls around, I am trying to get our schedule off to a good start, so posting about our menu just doesn't work for me. I plan on trying to get our menu for the week up on Sunday (or even Saturday if I have the time). This is also the tightest part of my month when it comes to eating, I don't usually have much money left for food and I always hope that I have enough left over and have planned well enough, that only a few essentials are needed.
Menu for the week of Dec 2nd thru Dec 8th.
Sunday-
Breakfast: Overnight coffee cake
Lunch: Out
Dinner: Taco Soup

Monday-
Breakfast:Leftover coffee cake
Lunch: Soup
Dinner: Pork chops, sweet potatoes, corn

Tuesday-
Breakfast: Oatmeal
Lunch: Pizza muffins and oranges
Dinner: Bean and beef bake and salad

Wednesday-
Breakfast: Scones
Lunch: Noodles
Dinner: Salmon chowder and Chicken alphabet soup (for those who don't like the chowder) and rolls

Thursday-
Breakfast: Hot cereal (I have to see what I have available)
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Chicken Cacciatore with salad and bread

Friday-
Breakfast: Pancakes
Lunch: Creamed tuna and peas
Dinner: Nachos (really a dip with lots of beans, some taco seasoned meat, sour cream, salsa and cheese)

Saturday-
Breakfast: Leftover pancakes
Lunch: Creamy Pasta
Dinner:Leftovers - if there aren't any, I will make some sort of soup and bread

A little pet-peeve of mine

2007-11-18T16:34:00.000-06:00

There is something that I have been hearing that really bothers me. It is something that I truly can't comprehend, mother's that don't want to be around their children. What is wrong with our society when mothers don't want to spend time with their children? I have heard comments like, "My kids are on vacation next week, I don't know what I am going to do." "My kids are going back to school tomorrow, I can't wait. They have been driving me crazy." "I am sending my kids to my parents for 2 weeks, I have to get them out of my hair!" What has happened to our society where we can't get stand our own children? Why do we want to get rid of our children, why do we send them off for other people to care for? This saddens me so deeply. Are we so busy as mothers that we can't tend to our own children? Who do we blame when our children don't behave how we would like them to? Who do we blame when we can't stand to be around our own children? The blame lies on the parents, not the children. We need to wake up and realize what is going on and look at the reality of the situation. We are the parents, we shape our children, we are responsible. I can't imagine what our society is going to be like if this keeps up. To be honest, I am so glad that these mothers aren't my mother. Who would want to be raised in such a way? Who would really want to be "loved" in this manner?
I pray that these mothers wake up and face this very sad reality and start to change how they love and care for their children.

One extra Thanksgiving link

2007-11-13T10:27:00.000-06:00

I am not sure if the lady who runs the homeschool site has this link on her Thanksgiving page or not but I feel it is worth passing on. You can take a virtual tour of a reenactment village. Check this one out if you can.
Here is the main link to the online activities:
http://www.plimoth.org/education/olc/index_js2.html

Thanksgiving Links

2007-11-13T10:17:00.000-06:00

I know that Thanksgiving is right around the corner and these links might be too late for some, but I am going to post them just in case.
The one I have is a homeschool site and she has a ton of links:
http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/articles/111098.htm

I was going to post some more, but I think she has plenty on there. There are crafts, recipes, stories, games, etc.

If you are looking for a few new recipes but don't like to just pick a recipe and try it, you can look at www.allrecipes.com I love going there. Not only do you get recipes but you also get reviews and even pics sometimes. They have a Thanksgiving section you can browse through too. This is my main source of new recipes.

Menu Monday

2007-11-13T10:09:00.000-06:00

I know that it is Tuesday but I came down with a bladder infection over the weekend and didn't feel great. Plus, we lost our cable and internet for a few hours yesterday AND dh was having some problems with his server so he confiscated the laptop when he got home. I also changed the menu I made out since I didn't feel great yesterday. So, here is the menu for the week of November 11-17.
S- Cereal (I know, not great, but we all have off nights and mine was Sunday)
M- Chicken Vegetable soup in CP
T- Hamburger Pinwheels with mac-n-cheese and beans
W- Roasted CP chicken, salad, peas and mashed potatoes
Th- Cowgirl beans with biscuits, corn and spinach (salad for those who don't like cooked greens)
F- Leftover chicken mixed with black beans and seasonings served on tortillas with salad on the side
S- Leftovers (I hope there is enough)

Menu Monday

2007-11-05T07:17:00.000-06:00

Here is my menu for the week of November 4-
Sunday- Chicken taco soup
Monday- Breakfast for dinner- Eggs, Suasage, Gravy and Biscuits
Tuesday- Chili with cracker and cornbread
Wednesday- Sloppy Joes with homemade buns, french fries and peas
Thursday- Black bean soup with cornbread
Friday- Pancakes (this is a special night for us while dh takes out one of the kids)
Saturday- ?

Thanksgiving

2007-11-04T17:38:00.000-06:00

With Thanksgiving coming up and Christmas right around the corner, I thought I would share a few links that would help with your Thanksgiving planning. Anything that we can do ahead of time will allow us to enjoy the day a lot more.

http://www.foodtv.ca/content/entertaining/ContentDetail.aspx?ContentId=2311&Category=Entertaining

http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/family/checklist/dony119foo_liststhanks/dony119foo_liststhanks.html

http://www.cooksrecipes.com/BHG_sydication/holidays/november/thanksgiving_planner.html

http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Thanksgiving-Planner-The-Four-Week-Plan/Detail.aspx

I think this should be enough. :-) You can look them over and see if any of them would suit you and your situation. If you see things from different ones that you like, combine them and you will have your own unique plan!
Here are 2 more links for you enjoyment:

http://familyfun.go.com/

http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/meal-planner/index.html?CMP=ILC-VO2143700297

I hope these help you have a wonderful, relaxed and fun-filled Thanksgiving!

Menu Monday

2007-10-29T09:41:00.000-05:00

Monday- Chicken Alfredo and salad
Tuesday-Baked chicken, broccoli, and beans and cornbread
Wednesday- Potato soup with cornbread
Thursday- Burritos and rice
Friday- Chili
Saturday- Chicken Noodle Soup
Sunday- Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and peas

A very touching video

2007-10-28T21:13:00.000-05:00

Here is a youtube video that is very touching with my favorite group. I absolutely love Third Day and have not heard anything that I don't like by them. Every time I hear them I instantly start praising God.
There are a few other singers with Third Day in this song. The words are absolutely beautiful. The words in this song speak for themselves.

In Memory

2007-10-25T21:41:00.000-05:00

I would like to devote today's blog to a young man who went to see his Heavenly Father a little earlier than many would have liked. His name is Brian Howard and he is the son of one of my very best friends. He died 4 years ago today, a day that many will never forget. I have learned firsthand the emotions that come from losing a child by being with my friend and her family through this time. I saw what a mother goes through when she loses her child early in life. I saw what it is like to become a member of the club that people say you never want to be a member of- the club of parents who have lost a child.
Brian was a handsome young man. He was a guy who always took care of what he looked like, who acted more mature than his years, who loved his siblings. I will always remember sitting in his house with his mother and hearing their talks, witnessing the love they had for each other.
One of the fabulous things that God gives us, is the gift of salvation. My friend rests in the comfort of seeing her son again one day. She rests in the comfort that he is being well taken care of and loved. She can't wait until the day she can see him again.
So, until that day, she (and the rest of us who knew him) keep him in our memories. Brian is only dead physically. He is alive to us in our hearts and alive spiritually in heaven. How comforting is that to someone who has lost a loved one? Only those who trust in salvation and have lost a loved one can understand that! I can't imagine what those who don't believe in God go through when they lose a loved one- there is no hope, none! How absolutely heartbreaking!

Tap, tap, tap, can you hear me?

2007-10-24T19:47:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone- look at this- two postings this week!
This week has been a little busy. Usually I lead what most would consider a boring life, although this life makes me happy. I enjoy staying home and taking care of my family. This week has been a little busier than normal. Monday dd11 got her glasses and also hearing aids. She was born with a unique hearing problems. Part of her inner ear did not develop properly, basically it is underdeveloped. She saw an ENT and had a lot of tests done when she was younger. He told us that a hearing aid wouldn't help her, that she would have to just learn to live with it. Well, our precious daughter is basically deaf in her right ear, she can only hear super loud things with that ear, things like a jet flying close to the ground. We have tried to adjust the best we can.
DH was able to make an apt at an ENT a couple of months ago for her. They ran the same tests as what was ran in Texas- she had special hearing tests and had a cat scan done. The results were basically the same as they were a few years ago. That is good because it means that she isn't getting any worse. We then went and met with a hearing aid specialist (who is absolutely wonderful by the way). She thought that a hearing aid might be able to help dd's unique situation. We were going to try one hearing aid but she felt 2 with a crossover would be best. Basically what happens is that what happens on the right side is sent over to the left side. She is able to hear better and that was the whole point. I am so happy for her. She can see better now and hear better. Her hearing loss cause her not to hear certain sounds too, so her world have come alive with new ones. She was riding her bike and heard the leaves crunch under the wheels of her bike. A wonderful new sound for her that I would take advantage of, not really paying attention to and to her, it is exciting!
We are heading to Milwaukee tomorrow when dh gets home. I hope we are able to get a membership to the science museum there. If not we do plan on seeing an IMAX I believe. I might not post again this week because I won't be home!
I hope everyone is having a fabulous fall colored week!

Menu Monday

2007-10-23T15:57:00.000-05:00

I know this is a day late but I am going to post it anyway. Yesterday was a busy one and I wasn't able to get on. My dd was able to get her glasses and hearing aids yesterday and we went to the library. I ran out of time to get online and post this- so here it is a day late.
Monday: Brunswick Stew in the CP with cornbread
Tuesday: Homemade Pizza and Salad
Wednesday: White Chili
Thursday: Brown bag burritos
Friday: Out
Saturday: Sandwiches
Sunday: Soup and grilled cheese

We are heading to Milwaukee on Thursday when dh gets home so the end of the week menu is a little different than normal. I am hoping the burritos will taste good since it is the first time I have made these. I am thinking if we need to we can eat these in the van on the way down.

The World is Round

2007-10-16T20:29:00.000-05:00

I know that it seemed like I would never return but here I am. If the world was flat you might think that I fell off the edge. I debated whether I should return and post again or not since it has been so long. While the laptop was in the shop I spent very little time on the computer. I was able to squeeze in a little time to check emails on dh's computer but it was hard with 7 of us using one. Then I got a little lazy. I started focusing on school and didn't spend much time on the computer. Now our school year is in full swing. We are using mostly FIAR- Five In A Row. FIAR volume one for the younger ones and Beyond FIAR volume 2 for the older ones. Beyond reminds me a lot of Prairie Primer. The girls are enjoying it and is a little less mom intensive which allows them to do somethings on there own. Things are going well on the schooling front- everyone is learning and happy which makes me a happy mom.
I am hoping that I can get back in the habit of blogging again. I was trying to start posting everyday and ended up going in the opposite direction. I have a lot of posts in my head ready to be typed out, I just hope I don't forget them when I sit down at the laptop.
Take care everyone!

Computer down

2007-08-08T08:46:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone. Well, we are down to one computer again. The laptop is having a problem that requires that it be sent in to be worked on. That is the only problem I have found with the laptop- dh can't work on it. He definitely can't work on it while it is covered under a warranty. I was hoping to post once a week on the Biblical Womanhood series and will still try to later this week. One problem though is that all of my ideas and such are on the laptop.
I need to work on a lot of things and finish planning school and decluttering the house plus keep up with the series. One day a week would be best for that so I can keep up with everything else.
I hope everyone is enjoying the final days of "summer". Where I am from the weather for summer continues long after summer is over. I still haven't done some of the things I wanted to this summer but I still have time to get them done.
Enjoy your day!

BW: Personal Relationship

2007-08-01T14:40:00.000-05:00

Before we can start working on any other part of being an obedient child of God, we have to have a relationship with Him. How can one have a relationship with God? What does that mean? I hope to answer these questions through these posts.
Some many Christians say that they have a personal relationship with Christ. Many say that it is the most important part of their walk. But what does that mean? What are they doing? What should we do to have that relationship? To know about the Lord doesn't mean that we KNOW HIM. There is a difference.
When you have a relationship with someone you spend time together, communicate and trust the other person. Well, here we are talking about the One-True-Holy God. God who loves us so much he sacrificed all for us! Does He deserve our leftovers or our best? Should we attempt to reach our to Him? Yes we should and we need to do do all three of those starting with spending time with Him. We need to make our relationship a priority in our life just like we would with our husband, kids and friends.
So the first step would be to make the time with Him a priority. Here are a few tips for making time to be with Him:
Wake up before everyone else
If you have little kids, when you lay them down for a nap, make that your time
Have a time where everyone is quietly working on something and you spend time with God
While dinner is cooking, use that time
Instead of watching tv, use that time
When the kids are all down at night, use that time
When the kids are in the bath, playing, listening to a story, etc. There is time at some point during the day where you can get them entertained and you can give your time to the Lord.
If you work away from home, use the time in the car to talk to him. Turn off the radio and enjoy the silence in the car- no interruptions and spend time with God. You can use your lunch hour to read your Bible if needed.
If you look at your days, there is a space of time that you can use for spending time with God. I am not an early riser. I can get up early a few days in a row but after that I just can't seem to wake up the next day. I don't know why so I don't get up before everyone at 5 or 6 and spend time with God however I do make time as the day goes on. I have my prayer time and Bible reading and Bible study. Plus I am teaching my children about God and His word.
One thing I am learning though is that we have to at some point start being silent in His presence and just listening. Us mothers of little ones might find this part difficult but if we make the effort it will be worth it.
Something I would like to add about what I have written so far:
I am not saying that we should have our time with God and then move on. No. We need to put Him in every part of our lives. I think about Him all the time and talk to Him too. My point is that if we don't make a conscious effort to have a relationship with Him, then it probably isn't going to happen.
I am going to stop here for today. I am hoping to add some more to this tomorrow. I am trying to keep up with my duties around here and keep up with writing this too.

A little about me before I begin

2007-07-31T15:09:00.000-05:00

I sat down today with the intent to start the series on being a woman who follows God, her focus on pleasing God but nothing seemed to come out. I would start typing but I didn't like what I was reading. I then felt like I should share a little about me. I don't know why but that is what this post is going to be about. I will try not to make this too long or too boring.
I don't want to start with my birth but I will start with when I was a child. My parents divorced when I was almost 2 so my time was split between 3 or 4 houses (my grandparents did a lot of watching me too). I grew up around a few strong women with strong ideas. I wasn't really around anyone who homeschooled or a mom who was a keeper at home. I grew up thinking that I need a man but didn't think that I needed to be married. I also wasn't going to let any man "rule" me or tell me what to do. If my boyfriend/husband didn't agree with me, too bad. Sometimes I followed exactly what I have said and a few other times I ended up being slapped around a time or two and even apologizing for "causing" it. My past is interesting to say the least.
My dh and I accepted Christ as our savior when he wad 22 and I was 21. I still held my beliefs from above and didn't change overnight, not even close. I started hearing foreign ideas to me but didn't pay too much attention. It has taken me years to really begin to hear and change. Where do the "ideas" that I have been wrong all these years come from? The Bible. It took years of God working on me and not giving up on me to change. I still have a lot more growing to do but who I was and who I am now are very, very different. The Lord has patiently worked on me and I am who I am now because of the Lord. I am so thankful he isn't like me. I would have given up years ago.
Being a Christian and a woman who is married means that a large part of our walk will involve serving our husbands but that doesn't mean that is all. There are so many areas of our walk that we need to work on. I am not a woman who has arrived, cont rare to that, I have a long way to go. I am not writing this because I am this great and wonderful all-knowing person, I am a woman who wants to please God. I have been feeling a tug and hearing a whisper that I need to write something along these lines. To be honest, I didn't want to. I have been fighting it. One of the reasons is because I have a huge fear of rejection. I kept saying,"What if no one likes what I share?" "What if no one wants to read it?" There were more excuses but they boiled down to me not doing what the Holy Spirit was impressing upon me to do. Whether or not what I write is read or even liked isn't the point and I realize that now.
I praise God for everything that he has done in my life. I pray that this series does bless someone but most importantly I hope that God is exalted and glorified through this.

Busy Day

2007-07-31T09:28:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was a busy day. I really cleaned the kitchen. I went through the cabinets and organized them. I cleaned out the drawers, including the silverware drawer. How does the silverware organizer get so dirty? I mean, really. It amazes me how dirty it can get! It is also on of dh's pet peeves so I need to try and keep that clean. I also had my dds help me scrub the floor. Our mophead needs to be replaced and the floor needed to be cleaned. I don't know if my kids are exceptionally dirty or what but it seems that the kitchen floor needs to be mopped daily. Yesterday after we thoroughly cleaned the floor there were sticky spots all over it that night.
I also go to a ladies class once a week and it is on Mondays. I have missed the last 2 because I have been sick but was able to go last night. We are studying Loving God with all Your Mind by Elizabeth George. It is a really good study. I have learned so much through this study and am glad that I am able to go.
I hope to post again tonight. This might be dh's week for his Bible study too so I might have some free time tonight.
I have a wonderful hubby- for many, many reasons. I will share what he did last night: I came home from the ladies class and went to my room. He was sitting on the bed with the laptop. I thought he was working on one of the radio stations he hosts but he wasn't. He was changing over my website! I thought that was so sweet. I mentioned once that I would like for the site to look different and he showed me some different things he could do over the weekend and changed it last night. He is so wonderful and I am thankful that I am married to him!

Sick little ones

2007-07-29T22:19:00.001-05:00

I just wanted to do a quick post and say that my kids are not doing too well today/night.
My youngest just threw up. Three of my five seem to have the same cold that I have.
I will try and not neglect keeping up with the series, but we will see.
I hope that everyone else is doing well.
Take care.

Biblical Womanhood Series

2007-07-28T18:53:00.001-05:00

I would like to start working on a little series called Biblical Womanhood. To be the best Christian wives, mothers and women we can, will take some sort of effort on our part. Life isn't necessarily easy but we can enjoy it. If we aren't enjoying the life we have now maybe we need to reevaluate our priorities. We need to see where and how we are spending our time, what our focus is on, how our attitude is, etc. These really do set the tone of our homes. You know the saying, "If momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy?" I really think that is true. We have so much power and we don't realize it, we don't realize that we influence so much. If our focus is on God and eternity, we will make mistakes, but our lives and those around us, will be so much better. As Christians (whether male or female) we shouldn't be sour all the time, we don't need to walk around with a chip on our shoulder. We need to fill our homes with joy, joy for the Lord! We need to purposefully be joyful everyday. Even if we are having a bad day, things just aren't working like they are supposed to, we still have the love of the Lord. Jesus Christ loved us so much he came to earth and suffered in a horrific way so we can go to heaven. We are here for such a short time, we need to make the best of it. We need to show the world what it is like to be a joyful and happy person. We are going to spend eternity in the presence of a God that loves us so much. What do we have to be upset and angry about? If you went to a restaurant and the servers there always had bad attitudes and were mean, would you keep going back? Would this be your favorite place to eat? We as Christians are the servers and the patrons are the unsaved world. If Christians acted like the servers in the restaurant, why would anyone in the world want to be a Christian? Everything starts with us. We have the power to affect so much, why not make it positive?
I want to use the Bible as our base. Here a few verses that I would like to start us off with:

"You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength." (Deuteronomy 6:5)

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)

"Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands." Proverbs 14:1

Proverbs 31
"10Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.

"Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. Psalm 35:27

11The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.

12She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life."

Ten P's in a Pod

2007-07-27T15:51:00.000-05:00

Have you heard of this wonderful book? Ten P's in a Pod by Arnold Pent III is a wonderful, convicting book. I like to keep a read aloud going in our family all the time. We just finished Autumn with the Moody's by Sarah Maxwell. We spent longer on this book than I would have liked. I got a little lazy and didn't make our read aloud time a priority. The book by Ms. Maxwell is a really good family book that everyone loved. I plan on ordering Winter with the Moody's after we read a couple of books we have around the house. One of those books is Ten P's in a Pod. We had started this book on our drive up to Wisconsin but it got lost in all of the shuffle. When I found it the other day, I made it our next read aloud. This book is really good, not only is it good, it is convicting. The amount of Bible reading and memorization that this family accomplished is amazing. The kids are realizing as I am reading this that we need to make this a priority in our family. I have I think allowed us to be a little more casual in our Christian walk than we should. I plan on vamping that up for all of us, our focus on God in our walk. I encourage you to find this book if you can. You won't regret it, I promise!

No Surgery

2007-07-26T21:29:00.000-05:00

Well, dh's surgery didn't end up happening today. The insurance person who approves surgeries said that he had more important surgeries to approve. I was a little frustrated with the cancellation because of the preparation that we did for this. He was notified at 9:50 this morning that his surgery that was supposed to take place at 2, was canceled. We did know that is was up in the air though when he talked to them yesterday. I am trusting that maybe this wasn't what God wanted to happen. There were a lot of people praying and the surgery was canceled so maybe this is God's will.
It has been rescheduled for August 9th and has been sent to someone else for approval. Hopefully we will know a few days before the surgery if it has been approved or not.
I have been working on our fall Moth schedule. It is getting close for a lot of us homeschoolers to start our school year. I was actually hoping to start on August but with dh's surgery I was planning on waiting. I think I am going to wait a little longer since he will be out of commission during our first week. I know I will be spending lots of time serving him and making him comfortable, I won't be able to be really focused on schooling. This does give me some extra time to get our first few months planned out for school though so I can't complain.
Have a great week!

Better for me and for our bank account

2007-07-24T20:58:00.000-05:00

I want to talk about something that I bought over a month ago. This is a subject for women only- not that men or kids are reading my blog but I wanted to give a warning.
I bought something called a Diva Cup. I had heard about a variation of one of these years ago but it seemed gross. I finally got tired of spending so much money every month for something that just got thrown away and isn't good for my body. I ran across an article about these cups that you use when your period comes that you can reuse for about 10 years. It isn't bad for me, the environment or our wallet.
I tried out the Diva Cup last month. I loved it. It was a bit messy a time or two but it worked. There was a small learning curve but I hope that this next time will be better.
Basically the cup is made out of silicone. You carefully insert it and you should only have to change it once every 12 hours. The cup catches your flow. You carefully remove it and clean it and reinsert it. The only time I had a problem was the first time I inserted it.
This might sound gross or strange to you. This might not be for you and if it isn't, that is fine. If you might be interested, do some reading about this online. The only regret I have is that I didn't try this years ago.

A Summer Cold

2007-07-23T15:40:00.000-05:00

Well, I have been absent for a little while. I somehow ended up with a summer cold that kept me in bed for almost a week. It ended up going into my sinuses and giving me a sinus infection, which I have never had before. I was hoping that today would be a day where I could get a lot accomplished but that isn't going to happen. I woke up today feeling pretty good, still stuffy and not back to my complete self but with a new problem, my knee is bothering me. Right now is not the time for me to be sick or having problems. I need to be getting planning for the school year completed and getting into a good routine but that can't happen if I am not functioning like I need to be. I don't really know what is wrong with my knee. It was bothering me some on Sunday but I woke up today feeling pain every time I would bend be left leg. As the day has gone on, the pain is still here but not quite so intense. I have no clue what I could have done since I haven't really done anything. I did find it amazing that this cold knocked me down as much as it did. I haven't been that ill in a long time.
Thursday my dh is going in to have a tonsillectomy and a UPPP ( I believe that is correct). He is going to have his uvula removed. He has severe sleep apnea and they feel that having these surgeries will help. I am very, very nervous. I did a little reading online and it sounds like the recovery is terrible and excruciating and long. He will be home for about a week. Ideally it would be 2 weeks but we can't afford it. I am not sure how this is going to work out but God knows and that is where my comfort must rest. If you wouldn't mind saying a little prayer for us I would appreciate it.
I have been wanting to post daily but something always seems to be stopping me. I have a few things I want to share and some neat pages to share that I have found.
I hope you all are enjoying your summer, a summer that seems to be flying by at a rapid pace.

Birthday Parties on a Budget

2007-07-11T10:45:00.001-05:00

I don't know about you, but saving money are birthday parties was/is a necessity. Over the years I have done lots of parties for my kids over the years and still have plenty more to do. I thought I would share a few ideas here on a few themes we have done.
One of my favorite parties ever was for when my third child turned 5. One of her nicknames is Ladybug and the them of this party was ladybugs. We of course decorated the house in red and black, lots of streamers everywhere. We had gone to Wal*Mart and gotten a bunch of red and black balloons blown up, besides decorations, they also served as party favors. I made a ladybug cake. I baked a round bowl shaped cake for the body and a cupcake for the head. I frosted the cake using homemade red frosting. I used green candies for the eyes and large black candies for the body. I know I used something else to decorate the cake with but I have forgotten what else I used. I also made sugar cookies and those were decorated like ladybugs. I also printed off ladybug themed coloring pages for an activity. The main party fun was a large ladybug (made from poster board) that was hung on the wall. The kids had to put the spots on the ladybug. There might have been something else, but I can't remember. I know the kids had a blast! I am sure you can go even farther with this idea. I wish I had another little girl who liked ladybugs.
Another theme we have done is an underwater birthday. With this one my oldest dd (who is amazingly creative) colored a bunch of fish pictures and made waves. How she made waves was by taking our end roll of newspaper and cut it into three strips. She colored waves onto the paper. She then hung up the fish all over the house and taped the waves to the wall. We had blue and green crepe paper. We hung those up to represent water and seaweed. For her cake we had some cupcakes a month of so before her birthday that had plastic decorations on top. There were starfish and octopus and crabs. I also had wavy candles. I used those to decorate the cake and sprinkled on top little colored sugar sprinkles. It looked really nice. This was a birthday that we had here in Wisconsin so there were no other people but us so no games. One thing we have sort of practiced in the past but definitely do now since we are home for the child's birthday--side note, we used to celebrate the birthday on a Saturday or Sunday. This way family and friends could make it. Since all of our family is in Texas and there aren't really any kids that go to our church, there aren't any "friends" that we could invite. Now I try to make their birthday as big a deal as I possibly can---
The child gets up to a house decorated in their theme of choice. We have streamers and pictures hanging all over the house. There are two special things that we do. One of them is a special piece of paper with birthday wishes on it and usually a few decorations that go with the current theme. That is hung in a special place. For the door that they are going to walk through we hang up a long piece of paper, usually from the newspaper end roll. I write on it Happy Birthday so and so and a few other things and tape it to the door they are going to walk through. Then it is cut into strips. We sing happy birthday to them and record them walking through the door decoration. If it is a school day, then they just have to complete about an hours worth of school and they are free to spend the day however they want. Almost all of their chores are done by other family members for the day too. One last thing that we do for the birthday child is they get to pick all of the meals for the day. Whatever they want, I make. They are made to feel like a king or queen for their special day. I also like to snuggle with the child either on their birthday or the day before and I recount what life was like when they were born. All of mine were c-sections so I don't have any stories where we almost didn't make to the hospital or anything, but include what I can.
I hope that this has given you a few ideas on how to make your little ones feel special on their special day.
Please overlook any mistakes that I have made, I don't have the time to go back at all and correct them right now. DH is coming home early today, he has a dr's apt and might have to have his tonsils taken out. Have a great week!

Menu for the week

2007-07-10T19:27:00.000-05:00

Well, I came up with the menu for the rest of the week.
Today for breakfast we had Strawberries and cream farina. We had some strawberries from July 4th (they were the frozen kind that had thawed) so I chopped those up and added them when the farina had finished cooking. It was actually really good!
Lunch was toad in a hole with a little juice.
Dinner was Black Beans and Rice- with corn, red peppers and a little sausage. It was delicious!

For the rest of the week we will have
Wednesday:
Salmon Patties, corn, mac-n-cheese and coleslaw

Thursday:
Cal zones with dipping sauce

Friday:
Egg Bake
Coffeecake
Smoothies

Saturday:
DH will be gone with the other men of the church helping a family with some housework so I am hoping to get a few things that would make the day special for the kids. I am hoping to make it a work day for us but also a relaxing fun day too. I have a friend that can take me somewhere if needed so I might see if she can get me to Aldi to buy a few things for the weekend until I can get to the store to get everything we need.

It is amazing to me that I can think of all kinds of things to blog about but when I am sitting here ready to post, I can't remember one thing. ~sigh~ Well, I have my menu up so that is something. Maybe I will remember tomorrow and post about something besides food.

Recipe and today's menu

2007-07-09T09:41:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I will talk about our weekend on another post- it was a long weekend here.
I wanted to share what we are having tonight for dinner. I am trying to eat out of the pantry and freezer this week and not have to go to the store for food. I am looking through some of my recipes for recipes that don't call for ingredients that I don't have.
For today I came up with
Baked Ranch Chicken
Mashed potatoes
Green Beans
If we have dessert we will probably have no-bake cookies.
Breakfast was rice (the kids really do love having breakfast rice) and lunch will be CORD (clean out the refrigerator day).

Here is the recipe for Baked Ranch Chicken
Chicken- I am using 5 chicken legs (big ones) and 2 breasts
1 C Ranch dressing
Marinade the chicken in the dressing, overnight is best.
Mix together 1 1/2 C Italian breadcrumbs, 1/2 C Parmesan cheese and a little salt and pepper.
Roll the chicken in the coating and put on a baking sheet. Depending on what kind of chicken you used bake at 400 degrees for 20-60 minutes. Since I am using 2 different kinds of chicken, I will start the legs first and after 35 minutes, add the breasts.
I am not sure if I am going to make mashed potatoes or bake some potato hunks. You cut up potatoes in desired size and coat them with whatever you want. I would probably lightly coat them in what I coated the chicken with. That sounds easier (and more flavorful) than mashed.

I am going to get busy around here. This past weekend was tiring and we didn't get much done around here so I need to get busy today.
Have a wonderful and God filled day!!

Holiday

2007-07-02T10:58:00.000-05:00

Are you getting ready for Independence Day?
We are. This year it looks like it is just going to be us as a family this year. That is fine with me but to be honest it does feel a little weird. Usually we are surrounded by family and friends. This will be our first 4th with just us. I think the Lord is preparing us for something in the future. I am not going to go into details at this moment, we are waiting to be sure this is what God wants us to do before saying anything. So for this 4th, I am trying to make it as fun as I can with the money that we have. I don't want to spend too much on food and activities. Here are a couple of links to sites that I have gotten some stuff for me to do with the kids. The first link is to an Independence Day book. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/books/julyfourth/
The second link is to a site full of ways to celebrate the 4th with your kids and information about why we celebrate Independence Day. http://www.homeschooled-kids.com/julhistory1.html
Do you have all of your food bought for your meals? I haven't done that yet but will get to the store tonight or tomorrow night. I am hoping to incorporate as much red, white and blue as I can.
For breakfast I am planning on blueberry pancakes, a little whipped cream and some strawberry sauce or homemade syrup on top of that. Later I am thinking of doing mostly snack type foods- dips with chips--one of the dips and chips will be a block of cream cheese covered with salsa and blue corn chips to dip, that will cover the red, white and blue-, chicken wings, and veggie tray.
Dinner will be cooked on the grill- probably chicken breasts for the meat. We will cover the meat in a red sauce, mashed potatoes (possibly dyed blue), corn on the cob and baked beans.
Dessert will be a fruit tray (with strawberries and blueberries) with a dip and homemade ice cream.
We will play horseshoes, crazy baseball (where each base has something silly) and a few other outside games. I also want to have a watermelon eating contest and a watermelon seed spitting contest. All of the other times I am hoping we are just enjoying each other's company.
The goal is to have fun, be together and just be a family. I hope your 4th will be spent the same.

New Goals

2007-06-30T18:59:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekends. This Saturday has been busy even though we haven't gone anywhere. DH trimmed trees, weed-eated, mowed. We burned all of the limbs that were cut today. What a busy day. We had a large brunch today that everyone liked- scrambled eggs, biscuits, gravy, banana pancakes, sausage and bacon.
There is something I would like to start for the next few months. It is based on the phrase, baby steps. We often try so hard to do too much at one time and then often fail. Since most of us are in summer and aren't doing serious schooling right now, I think now is the time to really get back on track with basics. For the next week, I am going to concentrate on my personal time with the Lord. Are there times that you have been to busy to pray or read the Bible? To be honest, I have. Or at least I thought I was. Where I want to start with getting back on track in my life is focusing on God. When we leave out God in our daily lives, our lives are not going the direction that they need to be, we make decisions that we shouldn't, and we have attitudes that we shouldn't. (there are much more things that I can list, but those are often where I see my biggest problems when I get lax in my time with God)
My goal is to spend time in prayer and read my Bible everyday. If you aren't spending time daily with God, I hope you will join me in this.

Always searching for better

2007-06-28T12:36:00.000-05:00

I know I am not the only person who goes through this, but I don't know how many other women do. Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation:
You are serving your family food you can afford. Doing the best that you can.
You then hear of another homemaker who makers her own bread. So, you spend time finding out how to do that. You start making bread for your family.
You then hear about another homemake who grinds the grain for her family's bread. Now you are searching for information about grinders. You find out they are expensive but "know" that your family's healthy depends on it.
Next you hear about organic grains and how much better they are. Now you are off and searching for places that you can get organic grains.
Next you hear that you are supposed to soak your grain before grinding or at least allow your dough to do a long slow rise to make it better for you.
The same day you hear that sourdough bread is better for you. So now you are searching for recipes to make better bread. You thought you were doing the best for your family but you keep hearing that there is always a better way.
After you have been making sourdough for a little while-and the kids complained because they didn't like the taste but you made them eat it because it was good for them- you hear that soaking the grains or doing a long rise really doesn't do that much for the nutrition of the grain.
Who do you believe? What do you do?
This scenario can be done with so many things in our lives. How about meat? Should we eat meat? If we do eat meat, should it be only grass-fed, hormone free meat? What if we can't afford that kind of meat? Should the wife now go to work so they can afford this expensive meat?
I have spent so much of my life hearing about things that seemed better, how what I was doing just wasn't good enough for my family. I can't tell you the times I have changed our eating habits because this way or that way was better. Once we were vegans. Why? Because I read how much better it was for us. Did my dh want to eat that way? No. Who worked so hard to provide for us to come home to a dinner he didn't want to eat?
There has to be a balance. Doing the best that we can at this time in our life is all we can do. We have cut out a lot of things in our diet (and life) where we can but not everything, it just isn't possible. Would I prefer to feed my family a mostly organic, raw diet with very little cooked food? Would I prefer to juice organic fruits and veggies daily to serve to my family? Do I want all of my family's foods to be organic and if meat, all grass-fed, hormone free? Yes to all counts, but we can't at this time in our life. We are doing the best that we can with what we have. That is all that any of us can do. Don't feel bad that you are doing what SuzyQ over there is doing, be thankful for what you do have. Don't get envious because Martha gets new healthy cooking gadgets all the time, be thankful for what you have.
We have to learn to come to peace with what the Lord has given us and until that time, we are going to be miserable. Believe it or not, once you come to this realization, you won't find much peace in whatever area you are struggling in; whether it is your diet, home, your dh, your kids, your curriculum, etc., etc.
Learn to be happy with what you have and where you are.

One quick tip

2007-06-25T10:28:00.000-05:00

One last thing and then I will be done for the day (with blogger)-
You might already have thought of this but I thought I might share just in case.
I have been using the crockpot for a few meals but so I don't heat up the house I have been putting it in the garage. We have a plug in there and so I get everything mixed up (or for today I just seasoned the chicken) and then take it and plug it the garage and leave out there until done. I would check about an hour after plugging it in to make sure everything is working right. If you don't have a garage, a porch of some sort will do. Our kitchen is the hottest part of the house (because of it's south facing position, no air in there and cooking that heats it up) using little tricks like these help a lot.

Menu for the week and stuff

2007-06-25T09:51:00.000-05:00

We had another busy weekend but this one surpassed most on being away from home. This weekend in Darboy was what is called Chickenfest. Our church had a little outreach there and a lot of church members volunteered to help. We have a tent that is called Changaroo. It is where parents can come and change their little ones. There are only port-a-potties (spelling?) there and no place to change a diaper. We also manned the first aid tent plus various places throughout the event. It was fun but expensive (when you have more than one or two kids) and tiring. We were there Friday night and most of Saturday. We came home Saturday for a break for a couple of hours and then went back and didn't come home until after 11:30. Part of the reason for getting home so late on Saturday night is because we parked at a friend's house and walked through their backyard- so we visited for a bit an the kids played. They built a fire and I sat around it for a little while because I was cold. It amazes me that it gets cold enough here to sit around a fire on a summer night. It was fun and I enjoyed being able to visit and I know the kids had fun. Sunday no one wanted to get up. We were all tired. After church the pastor invited a few people over for an impromptu cookout. We got home around 7 (I think) and put away some groceries and we didn't want to do much after that. It was an activity filled, tiring weekend. Guess what that means, the house isn't very clean and we are behind on laundry. The girls and I will spend part of the day cleaning the house and doing laundry. I am hoping we can get 3 loads washed, hung on the line and put away today. Our washing machine isn't doing very well (and neither is the dryer) but it might be possible. I am a little tired still but I am thankful I didn't have to get up this morning and go to a "job". The kids slept until a little after 8 and I had a little quiet for an hour or so. That was nice, although I sort of wish I would have slept longer myself. I will stop rambling and post the menu for the week. Take care and have a great week!
Monday:
CP Rotisserie Chicken
Potatoes, Salad and Mini Cheesecakes

Tuesday:
Sandwiches
Cabbage Salad and Beans

Wednesday:
Tuna Pasta Salad

Thursday:
Santa Fe Chicken with Rice
Chips and dip

Friday:
Sloppy Joes made in CP
Leftover Beans from T.
Coleslaw and French fries
I plan to have enough leftovers to eat some of this on Saturday

Saturday-
The other meal will be a picnic type lunch- I am hoping to go strawberry picking.

Computer problems fixed

2007-06-21T10:37:00.000-05:00

DH decided that it would be best to get something to replace my computer- a laptop. It came in the mail yesterday and I am using it now. It is nice. I can go wherever I want and use the computer. I don't have to sit in one spot any more. Now I don't have any excuse for not blogging. ~smile~ Because of what my dh does for a living and his side business, this is something that he could really use too. (He builds websites and hosts a few small time radio stations)
I still need dh to get my computer up and get all of my important stuff off of there. At least they are important to me. I had a few things ready for the website on there and other things that I would like transfered.
I don't think I posted my menu for the week either so I will do that now and then hopefully get one of the posts that I have been thinking about on here tomorrow.
S-Eat out
M-Lasagna and salad
T-Pittsburg Hot links, beans and potato salad (my mother sent the hot links up from TX for dh for Father's day)
W-Stir-fry with egg rolls
Th-Pancakes, eggs, hash browns and sausage
F-Taco Joes, french fries and corn on the cob
S- BBQ chicken sandwiches, beans and coleslaw

I hope you all are having a great week. I am finally getting back on track around here with cleaning and menu planning which feels so nice.
Take care and have blessed day.

Life

2007-06-16T10:14:00.001-05:00

I can't believe that it has been so long since I blogged. I intended to get on here at least a couple of times a week. Guess that didn't happen. One of the reasons is that my computer isn't fixed yet. What dh thought was the problem, wasn't the problem. I think he has ordered a different part but I don't know. He has been pretty busy. There have been a few church activities this week and he has been building a website for a customer. So my time online has been pretty limited.
I have been using this time to work on things around the house. We have been getting some school done this week and I have been getting caught up on some household chores.
The cooking that I did on Sunday really helped this week. The muffins were breakfast for 2 days and snacks. The granola was breakfast for 2 days also and was ate as a snack a time or two. I made yogurt one day and we had granola with yogurt for breakfast. It worked out really well. I think I will make the same muffins this week and also make some zucchini muffins too. They are both healthy and I feel good feeding them to my children. Here is the link to the muffins I made last Sunday. A couple of notes though- I used oat bran for whatever bran they called for and for sugar I used half rapadura and half sucanat. I also doubled the recipe and increased the spices. I added ginger and cloves to the recipe too. I have one child who doesn't like raisins so I made a few for her without raisins. Okay, now here is the link:
http://www.recipezaar.com/61973 They are called to your health muffins. They really are tasty. I sent some in dh's lunch and he ate them. He didn't throw them away so that say something.
I have thoughts of blogs that I would like to write but for now this will have to do. I have kids waiting for their turn and believe it or not, I have things I need to get done anyway.
Take care and have a great weekend.

Granola

2007-06-10T20:59:00.000-05:00

Here is the recipe for granola I used- but adapted with approximate measurements. I am sure you can to and take away what you want/need.
1 1/4 C Brown Sugar (I used rapadura)
2/3 C Oil (Maybe a little less)
1/2 C Honey
Mix these in a saucepan. Bring them to a boil and heat until the sugar is dissolved. I whisked occasionally while I measured out the dry ingredients.
In a large bowl mix together
8 C Oats
1 1/2 C Whole wheat flour
1/2-1 C Ground flax seeds
3/4 C Nonfat dry milk powder
1/2 t salt
1 1/4 t cinnamon- opt.
Any dried fruits you might want
Whisk all of the ingredients except the fruit in a large bowl. Once the sugar and oil mixture is ready, pour it over the dry ingredients and stir until combined. Pour the mixture into a jelly roll pan. I greased the pan but I don't know if that is really necessary. Put in a 375 degree oven and stir every 10-15 minutes. The granola should be in the oven for about 45 minutes. Once it starts to get brown it should be done. When the granola has cooled you can add the dried fruit. In my family, a few kids don't like the same fruits so what I do is bag it up with no fruit. Then when anyone wants some, they can add the fruit of their choice.
This is really an approximate recipe, I did keep track of how much I was adding but I don't normally measure like you are supposed to (unless I am baking). I really think it is hard to mess up granola, I have made many different granola recipes and they have all tasted good. This one is about the most cost effective one I have made and we all like it. I hope you do to.
If you have any more questions, let me know.
Take care.

A productive Sunday

2007-06-10T20:11:00.000-05:00

I am thinking of doing this every week, but don't hold me to it. :-) After lunch today and straightening up the house, I worked in the kitchen. Instead of just laying around for a few hours, I was busy in the kitchen. I made granola, a double muffin recipe, some snacks and my kombucha. I also got ready for tomorrow by picking out clothes for me and the boys and started packing dh's lunch. All I need to add for his lunch are his sandwiches. I have at least 3 breakfasts made for the week and some snacks done. DH had to go out for a few hours today and help pick up some chairs for church today so I thought I would use that time productively. It didn't take that much time to do the kitchen work and will help with kitchen time during the week. So, I hope to make room on most Sundays to do an hour or two of cooking for the week. I also got brown rice and beans soaking for dinner tomorrow and the chicken thawing in the fridge. I didn't make it Wal*Mart yesterday so there will be some menu changes until I can get there but I will be able to make it work. I did get to Aldi and got as much from there as I could but they don't carry everything that we use like whole wheat flour and brown rice.
I hope you had a good weekend. Also, if in your family Sunday is set aside as a day of rest, then maybe Saturday would be a better day for kitchen prep than Sunday. Do what works best for your family but see if this might work for you. Even if I did this every other week, I am sure that it would help. Thanks for reading and enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

June Menu

2007-06-08T08:55:00.001-05:00

I tried to post our menu for June but it didn't seem to to work. I know very little when it comes to computers so I don't know how to fix it. I guess I will just share the menu for the upcoming week on Sunday or Monday.
This week has been pretty busy. Besides little things, my computer is out of service until a part gets here that my dh ordered. I don't know exactly what the problem is but I think he ordered memory. Hopefully it will be here soon. 7 people sharing one computer is frustrating at times.
I have been getting back on track on my cleaning. The house wasn't a disaster but I was letting things slide a bit and then playing catch up. That game isn't any fun at all and I don't plan on playing any time soon. I have post in my head about why it is easier to clean a house that isn't messy. I think we all know that, but it was one of those light bulb moments for me.
I gotta run for now, breakfast is finishing up. We are having German Pancakes. Something my kids love. Oh, and my schedule hasn't been followed for one day yet. I have yet to make it to the library to get our school stuff, my computer broke, and there have been a few of us sick. It might make it a little looser so we can follow it, even if someone is out of commission.
Okay, off to get the pancakes out of the oven.
Have a great Friday!

This is the time of the month that is hardest on us, it is the time when I don't get to buy groceries from the store and have to depend on what was previously bought. A lot of the time this is the least healthy and most frustrating part of the month. I do most of the shopping once a month and go once again (sometimes) another day during the month. I try to keep my "pantry" stocked and food in the freezer. So even if we have a lean month, I should be able to cook a few extra meals from there. Here is what I have come up with for this week:
Monday- Leftover chicken and potato salad and beans cooked in the CP
Tuesday- Chicken, broccoli and rice casserole with corn
Wednesday- Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans
Thursday- Homemade pizza and bread sticks with marinara sauce
Friday- Egg Bake, breakfast potatoes and homemade wheat biscuits
Saturday- Bbq chicken sandwiches, coleslaw and beans

Breakfasts will be either oatmeal or granola. Snacks will be whatever we have, popcorn, smoothies or something I can make. Lunches will be mostly sandwiches- meat, tuna, egg salad and PB and J. I have pretzels to serve with the lunches. I still have some apples, applesauce and a few cans of fruit plus a few cans of frozen juice.
I know I need to plan better so that I make it to the end of the month without needing something to make it more nutritious. I do have whole wheat flour in the freezer and brown rice in the cupboard. I will also be making our bread and be putting flax in it and possibly making yogurt.
If my bread turns out then I will share that recipe. I will probably make a loaf a day in the bread machine but we will see. Sometimes my plans don't end up working out the way I had planned.

I hope that you had a nice and restful weekend and are ready for Monday!

Cookie Recipe

2007-06-02T17:03:00.000-05:00

It has been a rainy day here in Wisconsin but at least a little productive. We are supposed to have a picnic after church tomorrow (I say supposed to because of the rain). I have made potato salad to take, a large bowl full. My potato salad is liked by everyone that has tried it, even those who don't like potato salad. I like to take it since it is liked by so many. We are also going to take some Snicker Doodle cookies. These are also really popular. They are easy, cheap and so yummy. If you like Snicker Doodles, you will love these.
1 C Shortening, butter or margarine
2 Eggs
1 t Baking Soda
1 1/2 C Sugar
2 1/4 C Flour
1/2 t Salt
Beat the fat that you have chosen with the sugar. Once the mixture is nice and creamy and light, add the eggs. Beat until they are nice and creamy. Add the dry ingredients to the creamy mixture. Roll into balls about the size of a walnut. In a small bowl mix together 1/2 c sugar with 3-4 T of cinnamon. Roll each ball of cookie dough into the cinnamon/sugar mix. Place on cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake in a 400 degrees oven for 8-10 minutes.
When they are cooked just right, the middle is still a little gooey and soft and the edges are just barely crisp.
I hope you and those you share these with enjoy them as much as we do! They are just wonderful!

A Site

2007-05-31T14:03:00.001-05:00

I found a website that I thought I would share. I just listened to Dr SM Davis on there (for free) and really enjoyed the sermon. I listened to The 7-Fold Power of a Wife's Submission. I have heard parts of it here and there in different places but this sermon is worth listening to. He uses the Bible for what he shares and just doesn't pull ideas out of the air. Here is the link to the site
www.biblepreaching.com
There are other preachers on there besides Dr. Davis but I haven't listened to them yet. Right now I know I like him, so am wanting to listen to what I can of his first.
Keeping this short for the day but did want to post. I am trying to post more often than I have been (in case you haven't noticed).
Have a great day.

Sour Sourdough

2007-05-30T17:24:00.001-05:00

Well, today I made two loaves of whole wheat sourdough bread. I started last with the sponge and mixed it up and let it set out. Since the recipe said that it can take 6-24 hours for this stage, I made it up last night and let it proof while I slept. After breakfast I started mixing up the dough and then kneaded for a good 10 minutes. The dough felt so nice and smooth. I enjoyed the kneading part, well until my arms got tired. I greased the bowl and let the dough rise for about 3-4 hours. Next I formed it into 2 loaves and put them into the loaf pans. I scored the top and set them in the oven to rise. This took about 3 hours (I think). I baked the loaves and couldn't wait to eat some bread. I was anticipating the taste of the bread and my labor and care that went into the bread- the care and attention given to my starter too. I took the bread out and lucky for me a piece was stuck in the pan. I picked it off with great anticipation of the flavor. I pop the piece in my mouth and start to taste the tantalizing flavors of the sourdough, oh man was it sour. The bread is basically inedible. I followed the recipe and the instructions and couldn't figure out what in the world had gone wrong. I was mad and frustrated at not only the time and effort but also the money that was wasted. However, I realized learning from our mistakes/errors is the best, so I set out to see what I did wrong. Guess what I found out- Rye and wheat starters sour much quicker than white flour starters. I don't know if the problem with my bread was the rye/wheat starter that I made or not but I am hoping. I saved a little of my old starter, between 1/4 to 1/3 c and mixed up a new flour/water mixture hoping that the flavor will be better this time. I did use naturally white flour for the new starter, not sure what a difference that will make. I just hope any future mistakes taste good.
Well, one thing I mixed up and kneaded did turn out well today. I made Kool-aid playdough. Here is the recipe if you are interested:
1 C Flour
1/2 C Salt
2 T Cream of tartar
1 Envelope Kool-aid
1 C Water
1 T Oil
Whisk the dry ingredients together in saucepan. Stir in the liquid ingredients. Stir and heat over medium heat until mixture forms a ball. Allow to cool until able to be handled. Knead a few times and give to the kids for some nice scented fun.
This is a frugal activity time, good all year round.

Had big plans

2007-05-29T11:06:00.000-05:00

Today I had big plans on how I wanted the day to go and all of the things that we would get done. To start the day off, I woke up late. When I woke up I wasn't full of energy, refreshed from sleep, I was sleepy and felt blah. My 4th child, first son, is not well either. He is throwing up today. He is so small that is worries me when he is sick. I try to give him extra fat and calories when I can. He has had problems since he was about 2 months old and that has changed him for the rest of his life. That is another story though. So instead of starting our summer schedule today, we are reading and relaxing and I am taking care of our Buddy (that is what we call him).
The weekend was fun. We relaxed and cooked out and played. We played a few games and then we finished off the night with monkey in the middle. It was fun and everyone laughed and laughed. It was so nice having dh home for the extra day. He calls those days his "lazy day" where he doesn't have much to do. It was fun and I can't wait for the next "lazy day". We also talked to the kids about Memorial Day and what it means. We also watched a show on tv about soldiers from different wars. It was a touching show and made me cry. The girls were able to see what it is like for those who survive the war and how they feel for those whose lives are lost, even 36 years later.
I hope you had a great and relaxing Memorial weekend. We did!

My kitchen is ALIVE

2007-05-25T11:05:00.000-05:00

My kitchen has living, growing things in it. No, it isn't mold that usually grows in our refrigerators (at least there wasn't any the last time I checked). I have had Kombucha in my kitchen for many, many months now. Kombucha tea is supposed to be a wonderful healing drink. Since I didn't really have any problems when I started drinking it, I can't say that it heals or not but I can say it detoxed me! I feel better when I drink it and hopefully will continue drinking it for a long time. If you have never seen one, you can actually go to youtube.com and see a couple videos about it. -Actually, there are videos on the sauerkraut and a couple on the sourdough too. The sourdough videos I don't recommend, unless you are watching how to shape the bread or make pizza. I don't add any sort of yeast to the starter, just flour and water.-
I have sauerkraut fermenting too. I have never done sauerkraut before, so I don't know how it will turn out. If it fails, I will just try again. I would like to learn to make a few fermented veggies but not go crazy with them. I know I haven't ate any and neither have my kids, so I will go slowly and see how it goes.
I also started my sourdough back up. I stopped doing sourdough for a while, just got out of the habit. I really want to keep making our breads and want them to be healthy, so sourdough it is. I can't wait to make biscuits and pancakes and English muffins and pizza, and .... The list goes on. I started the starter with rye flour and have started adding wheat flour to it. Here are a few links that might help you with sourdough, that is if you are interested.
http://www.sourdoughhome.com/startingastarter.html
http://www.geocities.com/newlibertyvillage/earthstar/sourdoughrecipe.htm
http://www.northwestsourdough.com/recipes.html
These should get you started on making sourdough. There is so much information on here that you might get information overload. I suggest you read what you can, get a batch started and read some more. If you don't want to start with bread, there are still other things you can make.
I am hoping to make homemade ginger ale soon and a few other things. I have a friend who has kefir. I hope to get started on that in a month or two but I want to get these others done first and learn what I am doing with these before adding something else.
I hope you have a great Memorial Day weekend.

Summer School

2007-05-24T14:04:00.000-05:00

Summer is pretty much here and we want to enjoy it as much as possible. I came up with a summer schedule for us to follow that will allow plenty of learning and outside play time. I don't like to take 2 1/2 to 3 months off from school. I really prefer to school as much as possible because we miss so much here and there anyway that it works out best this way. I used to plan and plan and then plan some more, but we were never able to follow the plan I laid out, so I do a little planning and go with the flow. Here is what our summer schedule looks like:

Summer Schedule

7:30- Get up, get dressed and do bathroom chore

8:00-Morning chores

9:00-Breakfast and cleanup-Morning devotions/Break if we are done early

10:00-Table time-Math, Penmanship, Grammar, Spelling, etc

11:00-Subject of choice- when finished, free

11:40-Spanish

12:05-Country study

12:30-Lunch and cleanup

1:00-Indian study- Patchwork Primers

1:40-Finish anything unfinished

2:00-House cleanup

2:20-Free

4:00-Afternoon chores, read aloud time- series by *Sarah Maxwell and Classics, then free

5:30-Dinner and cleanup

Most of what they are going to do I am helping with, but for some of it they are on their own. The three oldest will be learning about countries on their own (I will be there for any help needed) and doing Spanish mostly on their own. They are also required to find a subject or subjects that they are interested in and learn about it. Right now on their plates are drawing, crocheting, photography, basketball, camp cooking, birds, etc. I am sure there are more things, but I don't remember what else. I have tried to make the schedule loose and free as much as possible. I want them to be able to experience the summer weather as much as possible. We are finally able to have the windows open here. We are used to doing school in the summer in a house completely shut off from the hot, hot temperatures of the Texas summer. Here we don't have near as much heat in the summer (of course our winters are spent in a completely shut up house to keep out the extreme cold) so spending as much time outside is a goal we have.
I hope you are thinking about summer and what you can do to make it fun! We are coming up with ways in our house to enjoy it while it lasts (we only have one car so we have to come up with activities to do around the house).
*Sarah Maxwell is a sweet young lady. She is a homeschool graduate that has written four books in a series. They are wonderful and my entire family loves them. They are always begging me to read more. Here is the website if you are interested www.titus2.com

Birthday

2007-05-23T15:24:00.000-05:00

We celebrated a birthday this week. Our "baby" turned 5! He has been a fireball wrapped inside a boys body since birth. When I had number four, our first boy, I was shocked at how different he was from the girls. What can I say, I don't remember being around many little boys and girls so I could compare. When we found out we (namely I) was pregnant again, with another boy, I was excited. Now my boy would have a brother to play with. He was born c-section like all the others and weighed 8 lbs 12 oz and was 21 1/2 inches long. He looked just like his dad, light hair and blue eyes. It is amazing that our hearts always have room to love more children. When I looked at him, I was in love. I cried (as usual) and couldn't wait to get back in my room so I could hold him.
He is a wonderful boy that I cherish. I do have a little saying about him though- God made him as cute and sweet as he is a turkey for a reason. This boy is always doing something, always. Some days it is climbing a very tall fir tree to the top and getting stuck or running and smacking his head on a door and busting his head open or slamming his brother's fingers in a door (actually it was the back of the door, where the door's hinges are) and causing a compound fracture OR there are the times he makes a snack for everyone and picks out a movie for us to watch or giving hugs to people just because... The list can go on and on. He is a wonderful child that brings smiles to my faces daily and tears on other days. Here is a story that I will never forget:
When he was 3 he walked into the kitchen and saw me crying- my dad had just called a family pet had died, you know, one of those from your childhood. He said he would be right back and ran away. He brought me a band aid and told me I could put it on "it" and it would be better. I of course cried more and hugged him tight. I can't imagine my life without him in it. I am so thankful that God chose to bless us with this wonderful child. I pray that we will raise him in a way that pleases God.

Menu for this week

2007-05-15T14:42:00.000-05:00

Monday-
B-Apple Coffeecake
L-Pizza bagels
D-Nachos

Tuesday-
B-Cereal (it was too hot in the house to cook today and I haven't made granola yet)
L-Burritos with leftover nacho stuff
D-Baked Ziti with salad and homemade bread sticks

Wednesday
B-Oatmeal
L-Creamed tuna and peas
D-Baked chicken with corn, beans, and salad

Thursday-
B-Granola
L-Baked potatoes with homemade cheese sauce and broccoli
D-Egg foo young

Friday-
B-Oatmeal
L-Sandwiches with carrots and dip
D-Red Beans and Rice (cp)

Saturday-
B-Overnight Coffeecake
L-Cheddar chowder and biscuits
D-Make your own

Sunday-
B-Granola
L-Cook out
D-Homemade pizza

Time flies

2007-05-15T14:27:00.000-05:00

It is amazing how quickly time can go by! I can't believe it has been so long since I posted. I have been busy with the everyday school stuff, cleaning and meals plus I have been working on a website. My dh helped set me a up a website and I have been busy with that too. Here is the site if you want to peak- www.ourfamilyof7.com
Not too much is going on right now- I did start exercising again. I stopped for about 3 weeks and started back last week. Man, was it hard. I can tell that I stopped, I was tired and worn out pretty quickly. It is pretty amazing how quickly what we have worked hard to on can go away. My goal is to use my Tao Bo Advanced tape 3 days a week and then after a week or two, add strength training. I hope to do this for a month and then will change as needed. Just trying to build back up and rev up my metabolism again. It doesn't take long for things to go downhill.
I got the alert about Jerry Fallwell. I am saddened by his death. I felt that he did a lot of good for the Christian community- whether I agreed with everything he said or did, he still did great things. I know he will be missed. Our friends who pastor the church here knew him. Their dd is going to Liberty next year too. They were actually out at Liberty when the shooting happened at Virginia Tech. We should be rejoicing for where he is now.
I am going to make a separate post with our menu for the week.
Until next time, hug those kids and your dh- make sure they know you love them unconditionally!

Long time, no post- Plus a recipe we had today

2007-05-01T13:18:00.000-05:00

Life has been busy around here. We survived the pine wood derby! This was our first time to ever compete in one and e did pretty good. One funny part is that my three youngest were the only three in their age category. So, needless to say, we came home with all of those trophies. The next group was a pretty tough group. My oldest took second and my oldest almost won a spot too, but her wheel feel off on the final race. It was pretty fun and I am pretty sure they enjoyed themselves. I didn't really see much because I volunteered to help in the concession. It was a wild and fun day and the gospel was shared with someone and of course, God wasn't left out of this event. When I look back on it, it was a worthwhile event for us to do as a church. While I was in the thick of it and it looked a little like chaos, I wondered how it would end up being. I am happy we were able to participate!
We tried a new lunch today. We are using the Prairie Primer for our curriculum and they talked about corn dodgers in one of the chapters today. I found a recipe, changed it a little bit, and made those for lunch. Here is the recipe if you are interested.
Corn Dodgers
4 C Cornmeal- I used two cups regular and two cups stone ground
2 1/2 tsp Salt
1 Cup Boiling water
3 T Coconut oil (you can use whatever solid fat you want)
1/2 C Sucanat (you can use whatever sugar you want)
1/2-1 C Milk
Fat to fry in- I used about 1/4 to maybe 1/2 Cup

Combine cornmeal, salt, and sucanat in a medium to large bowl. Put the solid fat in the middle of the cornmeal mixture. Pour the boiling water over the top. Stir. Add enough milk to make it wet but not too wet. Heat the fat in a skillet. I made dollops, a rounded tablespoon amount, and put into the pan. Cook until lightly brown and flip. Cook until other side is brown and drain on paper towels. Serve with syrup, ketchup or whatever you want.
The kids really liked these and so did I. I think I am going to add these to our menu on a regular basis.

Lunch

2007-04-24T16:49:00.000-05:00

Lunch can be almost as stressful as dinner if we don't get a handle on it. Here is a sample rotating lunch menu that I have followed during the warmer weather months. As with anything, we can make it cheaper or more costly and healthier or not. I am working on changing some of the ingredients to fit our need for healthier foods, however, I don't see a problem with this. It should be pretty easy.
Sample Lunch Menu

Monday: Quesadillas and beans or guacamole with chips

Nachos with homemade cheese sauce and beans

Tuesday: Sandwiches- egg salad, tuna fish, chicken salad, PB and

Banana, Grilled cheese, and BLT

Wednesday: Ranch Pasta salad

BLT Pasta salad

Thursday: French toast and fruit

Pancakes and fruit

Friday: Snacks- Deviled eggs, cheese sticks, muffins, fruit, veggies and dip,

popcorn, cubed meat and cheese, smoothies, etc.

Saturday: Beanie weenies and fries

Manwiches and fries

Homemade burritos

Routines

2007-04-23T21:31:00.000-05:00

Routines are an important part of our days. If we can focus our energy and get some things done at certain times of the day, it will cause things to run smoother and in return cause our lives to run smoother. I am going to share my routines that I use. These do change from time to time as needed, but for the most part, the general routine stays the same. I am working on getting the kids more involved with house chores, so that should change soon. But here is the most current set of routines that I have made.

Before School

Personal Grooming
Quiet Time
Put away clean dishes from night before
Make sure I have stuff thawing and/or soaking for dinner
Make our bed
Clean toilet and sink/counter
Start washer
Vacuum
Mop (Just a quick job with my swiffer wet jet)

After School/After Lunch

Make tea, juice, drink for the kids (if needed)
Wash dishes from breakfast & lunch
Everyone do a quick pick-up
Put the clothes in the dryer
Clean my weekly room while clothes dry
Fold, hang & put away laundry
Pick out next days clothes for me and the boys

Evening/Before Bed

Start cooking dinner at 4 or5:00, depending on what we are having
Eat dinner around 5:30
Clean kitchen after dinner, including washing dishes
Make sure everything is put away in each room

How to clean a messy house

2007-04-16T14:11:00.001-05:00

How to clean a messy house

Ever have a messy house? Ever have a house that looked like a disaster? Ever have a house that made you want to leave because it was a mess?

Well, here are a few tips and steps on how to get that house clean as quickly and neatly as possible. This isn’t cleaning out closets or drawers, this is surface cleaning, cleaning what is out in the open, the stuff that a visitor would see.

There are a few things we need to think ahead for before we start. Do you know what is for dinner? If possible I like to get dinner in the crockpot before starting. Even if it is chicken pieces with bbq sauce, it helps. I also like to get out my cleaning supplies that I will need and plug in the vacuum. This way, I am not hunting for anything, it is already out and ready for me to use.

If you have kids at home that can help, then you will want to get them involved in this. Many hands make light work! If your kids are too small to help, then you will need to be creative and come up with some activities to keep the preoccupied while you are busy. Some ideas are coloring, drawing, blocks, legos, cars, dolls, play dough, an educational video (I love to get educational videos from the library), etc. Set up a spot for them to be and let them know you will be busy and you will check on them in a bit. When mine were younger I would have a few ideas and be ready to swap their activities so they wouldn’t become bored and make more messes. If yours are older, explain to them that the house is messy and that they are going to be needed to help get it back in order.

I like to use a timer when the kids are helping so they don’t get overwhelmed. There have been times that it took 2-3 hours to get the house back into shape and that would have caused burnout. Decide how long you are going to work at a time and set the timer. I like to work for 40 minutes and break for 20. If the break is too long, I won’t get back up. The time this will take is going to depend on the amount of mess and how long you work and break. You don’t want to burnout but you also don’t want to take too many breaks. You will need to find the niche that is right for you.

One quick note, you are trying to go as fast as possible. Move your body as quickly as you can. Don’t stop to read or play with something or talk on the phone. Try not to let things distract you, this is key to get done in as little amount of time as possible.

The timer is set now and I head to start laundry. Chances are, if the housework has fallen behind, so has the laundry. Get a load going and head to get a trash bag. Go around the entire house and get all trash into the bag. If you can balance 2 things at once, have a tub or bucket for all the dirty dishes too. If not, you can collect those next. Now, all trash and dirty dishes have been collected. If you have a dishwasher, load it. If not, get the sink filled with warm soapy water and start soaking the dishes.

You are in the kitchen, stay in here and start working in here. Spray the inside of the microwave with cleaner and start it for a minute. The steam produced will loosen the debris cooked onto the surface. Put everything away on the counters and table. Now you can clean out the microwave and clean the counters and table. One trick that I have learned is if you have hardened stuff that you are trying to clean off, you spray it and let it sit for a few minutes. This allows the cleaner to soften the hardened food and it comes up easily. Wash the soaked dishes and let them dry. Put in more dishes to soak, if needed. The laundry might be ready to be switched now. If so, go get it done. On days like this, I like to get 2 loads done. If I do too much, I won’t fold them. So, I try to get enough done that everyone has something clean.

Now move into the living room. Straighten cushions, pillows and throws. Is the floor picked up? If it is, move onto end tables and the coffee table. I like to take everything off of them so they can be dusted quickly. Straighten anything that is left. Are there any movies lying around or magazines? If so, put them all away or straighten the area. Now dust and Windex the living room as quickly as possible. You can vacuum now if you want and the living room is done.

Go to the bathroom and spray cleaner on the sink, counter and toilet. Go back into the kitchen and put up the dishes and wash the next batch. Rinse them and allow them to dry. While the dishes are drying go back to the bathroom. Spray the mirror with Windex and clean it. Clean the sink, counter and toilet. Shake out the rugs and sweep. Change the bathroom trash if needed and go back to kitchen. Repeat dish washing if needed. Kitchen is now clean except for the floor. Sweep the floor quickly. I like to pour a cup of boiling water on the floor when I mop. This won’t work for all floor types but does for mine. I don’t use any cleaner, just the hot water. I mop quickly and vigorously. I often break a sweat when I mop. I don’t like to take my time when I clean; I like to get it done and then relax.

While the floor is drying, move onto your room. Make your bed if you haven’t already. Pick up the floor and clean off your horizontal surfaces. Any clean clothes that need to put away? Do that now. Now you just need to dust and Windex if needed. I like to leave my room last because it is usually pretty quick, even when it is a mess.

I vacuum the areas that haven’t been vacuumed and light some candles. Before we take a break we need to check the laundry. It would be nice if the clothes in the dryer were finished and we were able to move the clothes from the washer into the dryer and put away the dry ones. Don’t forget about the clothes in the dryer.

Now we are done. The house is clean, it looks nice and smells nice. Fix yourself a cup of something nice to drink and relax with a smile on your face.

2 Week Menu

2007-04-13T12:06:00.000-05:00

Here is a 2 week menu that we will follow starting Sunday the 15th.
Sunday: Tostadas with homemade beans, some meat, tomatoes, lettuce and cheese
Monday: Cowgirl beans with whole wheat biscuits and corn
Tuesday: Vegetable lo Mein with a little chicken and homemade egg rolls
Wednesday: Black bean and sausage soup with cornbread
Thursday: Chiles Rellenos with rice and fresh tortillas
Friday: Egg bake, hash browns and coffee cake
Saturday: Bbq chicken sandwiches, coleslaw and beans
Sunday: Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and corn
Monday: Chicken Parmesan, salad, corn and peas or green beans
Tuesday: Entomatada de Pollo with avocados, lettuce salad and beans
Wednesday: Hamburger gravy or bread or biscuits with veggies
Thursday: Potato soup with cornbread
Friday: Whole wheat pancakes with sausage and sauteed apples
Saturday: Empanadas and beans

I will post a breakfast and lunch menu, but those don't have a lot of variety. Our grocery budget is less than $400 a month. Since we have switched to whole grain products and better sweeteners, I can't seem to get it back down where it used to be. I do my best with what we have. I am trying to get it down to $350 and then will see where we are with food choices. I mentioned in an earlier post that I don't shop sales, but I do stock-up on food that is on sale when I go shopping. I am out of ground beef right now but still have a turkey in my freezer and quite a few chicken pieces in there too. I try to use powdered milk for cooking. This saves the fresh milk for drinking. Fruit that is on sale goes in the buggy too so no expensive fruit or veggies. I am off to finish my grocery list so we can go tomorrow. Have a great weekend.

Saying hi and a neat website I found

2007-04-11T12:13:00.000-05:00

I had an entry partially typed up but had to restart my computer, so it is now lost. I wanted to say that my mother and sister came and we had a wonderful visit. I am so glad they came up and spent some time with us. It makes me miss "home" so much. I really love my family and miss seeing them so much. We always spent holidays together, it didn't really matter which one, we were just always together. Now we are trying to make traditions with just us and it is a lot different. No large family gatherings, no buffet with too much food, no laughter in all parts of the house. I don't know how some families do it.
I wanted to share a really neat website I found today. I wasn't look for it, it just seemed to find me.
It is a nice little site full of authentic Mexican recipes with photos. My dh really loves Mexican food, the real kind and the Tex-Mex kind. I am going shopping this weekend for groceries so I am thinking of including 2 to 3 of her recipes a week for him. The pineapple drink looks really good too.
Here is the site if you would like to check it out: http://www.rollybrook.com/kitchen.htm
I really like the pictures that are on there, it helps me see what she did. One of the things that I know I won't be able shop everyday like she does but I think it will still work. I wish I knew of a Hispanic grocery store around here. I have seen a few Asian markets though.
Well, when I was lamenting over the passing of winter, I think I was heard. Even my family got snow the day before Easter. My grandfather said he can remember a snow once in his life in April, I believe he said the April of 1949. We are still getting snow. We are supposed to get about 8 inches today and tonight. What weird weather. Oh well, it is better than terrible thunderstorms and tornadoes. I do with the sun would peak out though. I think I am getting the winter blues in spring. :-)
I hope you are all having wonderful weeks and enjoying the wonderful blessings from God.

How to make a schedule

2007-04-05T16:52:00.000-05:00

Having a schedule and using it

I am not naturally inclined to be careful with my time or get all of the things done in a day that I want/need to get done. I am a procrastinator. Now, I am not proud of this, it is something I wish I didn’t do. I have been known to say, “Why do today what I can put off until tomorrow”. That is such a stupid thing to say and even stupider to practice. Over the years I have learned a few things that I will share here. Now, just so you know, I have not arrived in this area (and most other areas). I am still learning and adapting as the days go by, but I have gotten much better.

When you think of a schedule, what do you think of? Does it make you think of rigid times, someone acting like a drill sergeant barking out times and orders? Does it make you nervous and tense? Let me tell you, it shouldn’t. A schedule can actually be freeing, the key is to not become a slave to it. If you are constantly watching the clock or getting stressed if you fall behind, then you are not going to feel good about your schedule. There are many different approaches to a schedule. Some people only put a few times on their schedule, like meal times and nap times for littles, etc. Some only schedule the morning and leave the rest of the day open and you have others who have almost the entire day scheduled. You have to find what works for you, what will work best in your family. Below I will list some steps to follow when trying to set-up your schedule. For most people slow and steady wins the race and that is what I have done here, slow, determined steps.

First you need to pray about it ask God to guide you. You need to get God involved in on this. We often fail because we try to do it on our own. If you make the first step getting God involved, you will have a much higher chance of succeeding.

Second, I recommend writing down all of the things that you feel God wants you to get done during the day. Once you get them down, write next to them the amount of time you think it takes to get them done. You need to add them up and see if you have more than 24 hours of time on your paper.

Another thing that can be done simultaneously with this one, is writing down what you do throughout the day. Take a piece of paper and write the times down that you are awake. Then as you go through the day you can see what you are really spending your time on. You might be surprised.

Third, make sure you don’t have more things that you need to get done in one day than you have time. This is often a factor. Now you need to start arranging things in your day at times that they will fit. One of the most important things you shouldn’t overlook is the amount of sleep you need. I am someone who really needs a lot of sleep. If I get less than 8 hours of sleep 3 days in a row, then I get very grumpy, can’t focus and have no energy. I have a friend who can manage just fine on 6 hours. But it is good because it takes her a long time to get focused and moving in the morning. I wake up and start going, I don’t need extra time to focus. I like to start with sleep times and wake-up times and then include those things that are the same just about everyday; things like breakfast, lunch and dinner. Do you have a morning routine or an evening routine (if you don’t have one, start one)? For a lot of us SAHMs the key to a successful day is the time before lunch. If we have a productive morning, then the rest of the day seems to be a lot smoother, we aren’t trying to play catch-up all day. One of the key elements in a productive day is time with the Lord. Like I mentioned earlier, we try too often to do things on our own strength instead of depending on God. Is it any wonder we fail? Work on the time from waking up to lunch and clean-up. Don’t forget to try and make all meal times sort of regular, this really helps. When you have that working for a week, I suggest filling in the rest.

Let’s recap what we have done so far:

We asked God for help in working on our schedule, we asked Him to guide our steps.
We wrote down all the things that we need to get done in a day. We also wrote down what we did throughout the day to see where our time really is going.
We started filling in our schedule. We started with the basics like sleep, time with the Lord, meal times and any routines we might already have in place.

Fourth, is where you start to working on the rest of the schedule. So many of us moms get so gung-ho and want to do it all at once. Can you spell burnout? If we start small and keep building we have a better chance at succeeding. How is the morning part going? Do you need to change some things around? Once that part is done, start adding to the afternoon. I have another article on here about morning, afternoon and evening routines. Read those when you have a chance, they help me break down the day into manageable chunks.

Fifth, you need to tweak the schedule. Very rarely does the first schedule flow perfectly. If it is working great, then just keep plugging along. That is wonderful. Now, for the rest of us, move things around. For the longest time I had my exercise time in the morning and I was never doing it. I felt like a failure. Well, I moved my exercise time to the afternoon and it works out perfectly. It may not be the ideal, but it works and I have been exercising 5 days a week for over 2 months now. Once I loose a little more weight, I will go down to 3 days a week. I was outgrowing my clothes and was running out of clothes to wear. Besides all of the incredible health benefits exercise provides, I couldn’t afford a whole new wardrobe. I have been seeing some nice results so I don’t want to give that up!

Finally, you need to stick to it. If you just keep tweaking and tweaking your schedule, then maybe it isn’t the schedule. We have to find out what isn’t working. If you think there is nothing wrong with the schedule, then stick it out for a little bit. Remember the saying, is takes 21 days to make a habit stick (or something like that), you need to stick to it. A schedule is only a tool, not the magic pill. For me, part of what keeps me motivated is a happy husband, happy kids and a clean home. Oh yeah, I am not so stressed anymore. We all have some stress in our lives but when I stick to the schedule, it is really kept to a minimum.

A full day totally scheduled may not be what works for you. You might just like to have certain parts scheduled and the rest open for activities or free-schooling or something else, that is fine. The goal with this is to help you focus your energy and be productive. A saying that I hear over and over when I taught was, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. If you are going through your days unfocused with no plans or goals, or maybe you have plans and goals but you are accomplishing them, then you need to find something that works. For a lot of people, it is a schedule. I don’t like to have every moment scheduled, but key parts of the day are best for me any my family. I hope you find what works for you and that a few things in this article might have benefited you.

Melissa Gray

2007-03-21T19:33:00.000-05:00

Missey Gray was a woman that I never met in person but had "met" her over the internet. She was such a wonderful lady, someone that I really looked up to. I think I have used more of her forms and planners and charts than anyone else's. She was always helping someone or sharing something. I feel that she was definitely a pillar in the homeschooling community.
Last year when she died, March 6, 2006, I didn't even know it. I was going through a very difficult time in my own life, a time of trials and tribulations. I wasn't around much on the internet but do remember seeing a few messages about a homeschooling momma that had passed away. I deleted them feeling that I was going through enough of my own anguish and thought I probably didn't know her anyway (what a horrible way to think). Fast forward to almost a year later and a new state later, I am looking up some homeschooling stuff and decide to see what Missey is up to. I imagine my shock, my surprise when I find out that it was Missey who passed away. I cried and cried and actually am crying again. I can't really explain how I feel about someone that I wouldn't have recognized if we had passed on the street, someone that I didn't even know her hair color, but I can say, she helped me in many ways. She was a sweet and caring woman, a woman that I looked to for ideas, even when she didn't know it.
There is a MOMY, an e-group I am a member of, who just posted about how she is missing her husband who died suddenly about 3 years ago, I think. She said many wonderful things. So many things we take for granted or get a little frustrated over. How many times do we praise God when we are cleaning up our dh's shaving stubble, or towels, or taking a cup to the sink, or picking up their clothes, etc. The list could go on and on. The reality is, life is short, life can be tough but we need to rejoice. When there is stubble in the sink that means my dh is here he isn't out with others, he isn't gone, he is here, with me and our children. I thank God for my husband, he is truly wonderful and I am so blessed to have him for my husband but how many times have I silently grumbled when I cleaned up stubble or picked up clothes or, or or? Too many times to count. Shame on me! I have heard a lot of times that everything depends on how you look at and this is something that I think I need to look at differently. This is a heart issue, my heart needs some work. From this day forward I plan on picking up his clothes and his dishes with a smile on my face and in my heart. I am going to thank God when I go into the bathroom and he has left a mess in there. God says we don't have tomorrow, only today, and I need to work on my todays and leave tomorrow to tomorrow.
This post is not what I intended my next post to be about and it is a lot more emotional than I intended (with a few spelling mistakes I am sure) but it was what was on my heart.
Until next time, a happy wife and mother.

Created to be His Help Meet

2007-03-15T13:44:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was just about the busiest day I have had in a while. Homeschooling families day's are usually busy but we do have some days where we can't wait for a break and yesterday was one of those days. We had our regular schooling to do and cleaning plus the meal prep for my dh's birthday. The kids decorated the house for their daddy and the girls helped a little in the kitchen. We made homemade pot stickers. Those things are mighty time consuming. I didn't think I was ever going to finish making them. Right now I can only use two of my burners on my stove-top, thus I can only make two things at a time on there. Well, I had the pot stickers to cook, brown rice to cook, the chicken had to be coated and fried and finally had to make the sweet-n-sour sauce. It all worked out but meal prep and cooking took about 3 hours. I also made dh the cake his mother made him for his birthday when he was growing up (his parents both died when he was 11, so anything I can do to bring back some memories for him I will), an upside down pineapple cake. I used the cherries and made the number 33 on his cake. I almost forgot to put it on backwards. I am so happy I realized before I put on the cake batter. It was a wonderfully busy day and my dh enjoyed his birthday meal. That is what really mattered.
I have read chapters 2 and 3 in Created to be His Help Meet but haven't been on here to put up a post.
Chapter 2 is about having a Merry Heart. I struggle with this sometimes and really needed and enjoyed the chapter. She shares Proverbs 17:22, "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine." Our hearts need to be merry, that is the foundation. If you don't believe it, try it. It really helps. Proverbs 15:13 says, "A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance..." Our husbands want to see a cheerful and happy woman. If we are long-faced and sour, who would want to be around us? I know I wouldn't. This was a really good reminder on why we should be merry.
Chapter 3 is titled A Thankful Spirit. Proverbs 15:15 opens the chapter- "All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast." What a wonderful verse. She talks about being content and how that is important for us as women. If we are always complaining about not being able to do this or not affording that, how is that going to make our husbands feel? What kind of tone will that set in the house? Not a good one, anyway you look at. She says something in here that I wrote on an index card (actually I have quite a few verses and things wrote down) that I really love: Thankfulness is HOW you think, joy is the ABUNDANCE is produces. She goes on to say that even if we don't feel merry or full of you or thankful, practice it at. Keep practicing and working at it.
Also, if you are a child of God, joy will be visible in our life. Joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit. I am going to keep working and trying and I will have that merry countenance almost everyday. I didn't say everyday, because no matter what, there will be a day somewhere that we failed at being merry. No one is perfect. But that doesn't give us reason to quit or not try, that shows us that we should try and on those days that we could have done better with our "merriness" (is that a word?) , rest in the fact that we will fail, that we are normal, and just plan on doing better the next time!
Until next time,
Trusting in Jesus.

To Do List

2007-03-12T09:32:00.000-05:00

I am feeling a little under the weather today, just a little. We are all suffering from allergy/sinus problems. My dh has really bad sinus problems sometimes and this is one of them. He even stayed home sick today. He very rarely stays home sick, so I know he is not feeling well. I made him a breakfast that he wanted and now he is resting in bed.
I am listing my to do list on here today. With my lack of energy today I really need to get a few things done today and not slack on those things.
Read the Bible
Make Kombucha
Mop the kitchen
Clean bedroom- Room of the day
Get beans soaking for tomorrow's dinner
School with the kids
With all of the other things that I have to do today, just taking care of dh and being with the kids, I think this willbe more than a full day.
Hope you all are having a good Monday.

Meal planning

2007-03-09T15:47:00.000-06:00

Well, I did some tweaking and came up with my daily themes and our next month's worth of menus. The themes that I ended up doing is: Sunday- Family meal (that will be things like roast chicken, pot roast, meatloaf, etc.) Monday- Mexican, Tuesday- Soup or Chili, Wednesday- Casserole or Crockpot, Thursday- Italian, Friday- Breakfast and Saturday- Oriental and misc. type meals. This may not be how you would do it, but I think this will work for us for a little while. It helps having things figured out, takes a lot of stress of me.
The next four weeks are a little different because my mom and sister are coming up from Texas and Easter Sunday will be in this menu plan. But for the most part what I did was come up with a two week repeating menu. We have one week of meals and then a second week of meals and then we go back to the first week. I have never done this before, but liked the way it worked out. Now, on to the meals. Week 1:
S- Steaks or minute steaks, beans (a recipe from Crystal at the family homestead) and baked potatoes
M- Taco Salad- this recipe uses the extra beans from yesterday's meal. And I plan on browning up a second lb of taco meat and two more lbs of plain hamburger meat.
T- Black bean and sausage soup with soaked grain cornbread
W- Dh's b-day- Sweet and sour chicken, pot stickers (also a recipe from Crystal) and egg drop soup
Th- Vegetable lasagna with homemade soaked grain breadsticks (the lasagna is from Kim at large family logistics)
F- Soaked grain pancakes (the same recipe I mentioned before) and homemade turkey sausage (a recipe from Maggie at Hillbilly housewife)
S- Bbq Chicken sandwiches, coleslaw and beans (the bbq is a recipe from Stephanie at musings of a mountain mama, the hamburger buns will be homemade and the beans will be the same recipe I used last Sunday from Crystal)
Now onto next week's:
S-Roast Chicken in the Cp, mashed potatoes, beans and salad
M-My b-day- Santa Few Chicken with homemade refried beans and the chicken is either over rice or with tortillas
T- Chicken tortilla soup
W-Ragout with corn and coleslaw (the ragout is a Sue Gregg recipe)
Th- Peppy Pizza Pasta (this is from Marilyn at Urban Homemaker)
F- Christmas Dinner-- We will be having "Christmas" with my mom and sister and will be having a dinner to celebrate it, including a roast turkey and stuffing.
S- Leftovers
These next 2 weeks will be repeats except for the Christmas dinner. All of these are pretty easy and frugal. Some need some prep, like soaking beans and grains and such, but nothing too hard.
I hope I didn't confuse you too much. This is a long post and it is time for me to start dinner. Before I leave though, I wanted to say that the sites I mentioned above I really like. Miss Maggie and Crystal's sites, are sites that bless me completely and their recipes are very pleasing. If you need to save some money, stop by www.hillbillyhousewife.com and www.thefamilyhomestead.com They are sure to give you some ideas. Hope you have had a good Friday! Off to make dinner and get ready for the weekend.

Menu Planning

2007-03-06T11:25:00.000-06:00

Well, today has been pretty good. It seems though that the snow might be leaving us soon. We have really enjoyed winter this year and had a blast in the snow. We have never experienced winter like this and are a little sad at the thought of no more snow. Though it does give us something to look forward to next year. I better get with it and make molasses snow candy with the kids today. I guess it was also a good time to row Katy and the Big Snow. For us, this was a big snow, anywhere you walk there are at least a few inches of snow, if not a foot or more. I am sad and not ready for spring but it is time and I really do love spring. It is my favorite season, I love the new birth and new life that happens in spring. The birds coming out and listening to them chirp, the buds on trees that seem to come to life, gardens being tilled, etc. Since we are planning on moving to another house around town and moving out of the parsonage, we are going to attempt container gardening this year. I have never done this but for us to have a garden, this will have to be how we do it. This way, we get some fresh veggies and learn how to garden at the same time and it can come with us.
What I have been working on for now are menu ideas. I have done this many ways in the past but with our recent need to really change some things in our diet, I am going about this a little differently than I have in the past. I am making a list of meal ideas, things that are mostly frugal and okay for a diabetic. On a piece of paper I have headings like Mexican, Italian, Oriental, Soups and Chili's, Chicken, Beef, Casseroles, etc. This wouldn't be a bad idea for anyone to do and I think I should have done it this way in the past. I can just pick menu ideas at random, plan according to sales, or even do theme nights. I am thinking of doing the last two, sales and theme nights. Example: Monday- Mexican, Tuesday- Italian, Wednesday- Casseroles, Thursday- Soup or Chili, Friday- Oriental, Saturday- My choice and Sunday- Chicken or Beef meal. I am planning on making homemade pizzas be a regular Sunday night meal. Many times during the weekends I fizzle out and don't do well making meals. Having a plan and working that plan can help any area of our lives and this is definitely an area I need to work on. I don't know exactly how I plan on doing this and would like to do a breakfast night. Most breakfasts are oatmeal and sometimes eggs and toast or yogurt but no big breakfasts. My dh really loves big breakfasts but can't eat them early in the morning and he really enjoys a nice breakfast for dinner. I haven't totally finalized the plan yet or finished my meal ideas. This is something that might always be a work in progress. I will get some ideas from my dh and kids this week so I can have my list ready to go shopping this weekend. I will try and post my list soon that might give someone else an idea or two.
Gotta go finish lunch for my hungry crew.

Created to be His Help Meet

2007-03-02T18:42:00.000-06:00

I thought I would do a little post on Created to be His Help Meet. I am rereading this book, something I need to do. In reading chapter one tonight, there were a few things that really stuck out to me. I was reminded that I am my husband's gift from God. Something that shouldn't be taken lightly. God said that it isn't good for man to be alone and I am the answer. Wow! That is really interesting. How many times do we as women feel unimportant or not really cared for, that I don't matter. But in reality I do. I am very important. I was completed to make him complete.
She reminds us that things are still the same, that God's plan for women is the same as it was during creation. "For man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man" (1 Cor. 11:8-9) It doesn't matter what we want, what our talents are, God's will is still the same. I desire to fulfill this calling in a manner that pleases God and in the end it will please my husband as well.
Well, off to spend time with my dh. Have a great weekend.

Friday

2007-03-02T13:54:00.000-06:00

Today has been a good day. We did our devotion with breakfast this morning and talked about memorizing the first chapter of James. My two older girls and I will work on memorizing the first chapter and my youngest girl the first 4 verses. I don't know how long this will take but it is a worthwhile task. We cleaned the house- dusted, cleaned glass, straightened, vacuumed, organized and just basically got the house spiffed up. I have the pancake batter soaking and waiting to be made for dinner. I am using Stephanie's recipe from her blog at http://musings-of-a-mountain-mama.blogspot.com/index.html
The kids did all of their school for the day and worked on the basement some. My mom and sister and are coming up from Texas in a few weeks and we want the basement to be clean for them. I did my Bible reading for the day and have worked on getting ready for Sunday.
Fridays I like to get as much stuff done for the weekends as possible. All of our church clothes are picked out, library books and movies are set and ready to go back to the library, I am working on meals for the weekend. We are having dinner and a movie at church on Sunday and we need to bring a few things. All of these things need to be done or at least planned by today so that the weekends are harried and stressful. The more I can get done today, the better and more enjoyable our weekends will be. My dh has been spending many weekends working on building the church and hasn't had much time to be with us. He does the best he can and works so hard. Sometimes I struggle with being understanding when it comes to his time but I am working on it. Besides the Bible, one of the best books I have found for me as a wife is Created to Be His Help Meet by Debi Pearl. This book has helped me see my attitude for what it is. One of my goals is to help my dh as much as possible including during the weekends and complaining isn't a way to help. So, we do as much as we can on Fridays so that whatever he can do with us, we are ready.
I hope your Friday has been as great as mine has.

About time

2007-03-01T21:01:00.000-06:00

I thought it was about time for me to get a blog. I enjoy reading other's blogs so much that I have been wanting to have my own for a while. Well, here I am, finally starting one. My wonderful dh and I have been married for 13 years. I am thankful that the Lord blessed me with such a wonderful man. I fought and struggled for years and have really been working on my place in our marriage and that God has a plan for me in it. Things are working out much nicer since I finally started trying things His way. I am also a homeschooling mother of 5. Our 5 children are a joy and all so different. Right now their ages are 12, 10, 8, 6 and 4. My days are neither quiet nor boring, but that is okay. One day they might be both and I am not looking forward to either. I am using Prairie Primer for the girls this year and FIAR for the boys. The girls are our firs three children and the boys the last two. So, this plan works out nicely.
We are experiencing our first white winter this year and it has been fabulous. Tomorrow we will make molasses snow candy, something that was almost impossible to make in Texas. We all miss Texas so much but we know that we are doing what God wants us to and rest in that.
We are embarking on a healthier way of eating right now too. My dh was recently diagnosed with some health issues and has finally realized that I might have been speaking some truth years ago. So, to take care of him and my children, we are going to change how all of us eat. Our bodies are a temple and should be taken care of as such. Now, I don't say all of this to say that we are perfect eaters and take care of our temples all of the time, but we are starting to take better care of them. One of the biggest things we have done over the past month is give up all cokes, to you Non-Texans, that is all soda or pop, not Coca cola. We are just trying to do better with taking care of ourselves and set good examples with the children at the same time.
This is my first post on here, I hope there will be more to follow.