The Crunchy Mommy

I've Moved!

2011-03-12T08:34:00.000-08:00

Hello all my dear blogger friends! It's been a while, but I've not left you, I promise!! Just moved to a new blog on Wordpress!

You can find me now at Days with Desi.

Sorry to leave you with so little notice, but some of the features and uses of wordpress were just too good to pass up, soo I hope you'll come with me!

2010-11-03T11:19:00.000-07:00

I never understood the appeal of a slow-cooker... I mean what's the point when you actually like to cook anyway? But as the weather turns colder and the big old bear in me comes out, (You know, the one who wants to hibernate under the covers for the entire cold season?) I find myself desiring to heed the advice to just keep a pot of beans or something else healthy and filling in the crock all day so people can feed themselves when they're hungry. Then Mommy can huddle under her super-soft blankies on the couch while we school, read, and sleep away the cold weather.

The only problem being, of course, that I didn't own a crock pot.

In comes my wonderful husband, who -brace yourselves because i know you're going to be jealous!- has the sweetest tendency to suddenly show up with very useful items I've casually mentioned I would like to have.

(I'm not asking for them, I promise! It will just come up in conversation and I, not thinking, will say 'Oh I could use one of those!' or 'If I had one of these, this would be so much simpler!' and it always seems to appear in my darlings hands a few days later!)

Thus, a couple of weeks ago, an awesome, HUGE, automated crock-pot magically appeared on my kitchen counter!

And. I. LOVE. it.
It's the most AMAZING appliance EVER.
Seriously.

So, I figure the very least i can do is keep it full and steaming of yummy winter treats. Today's is red and black beans and rice with turkey sausage, onions, brown sugar, italian herbs. I'm going to have the girls make us some cornbread after Quiet Time to go with it.

(Did I ever mention the value of teaching your young daughters to cook your recipes? It's AMAZING. They actually BEG to cook... simply fantastic! I help with the hot parts but I don't see it being much longer before they take over my oven from me!)

Yummy. I think fall just got a little toastier around here. And I get to take a few more minutes relaxing in my PJ's :)

Sometime I'm going to have to tell you about my latest gift : A Shiny New Skill Saw!

Don't presume...A (polite) Tirade to Impolite People

2010-10-31T19:01:00.000-07:00

I am a Christian, home schooling, stay-at-home, biblically submissive wife and mother to six children, although we would welcome any more God choose to give us with happy hearts. There. I said it. What is it about that statement that upsets so many people?

As such, I have to contend with a lot of stereotypes and preconceived notions on a daily basis, and although I must be polite, I don’t have to let it passed un-noticed. This is for all those women like me who were raised, or chose as an adult, to be ladies, not divas.

Don’t presume that I’m fanatical because I home school my children. Although, definitions of fanatical differ wildly between individuals, I assure you I am most definitely NOT crazy. I treasure my children, I treasure their ability to be children and I refuse to allow them to have their innocence stolen by strangers who don’t care a whit about them or their education as long as they keep their funding. (And yes, I do know that there are teachers who DO care, but the system and the people running don’t!) I refuse to have my girls objectified and taught that their worth is in their bodies and not in their minds. I refuse to have my boys grow up into perpetual children because ‘boys will be boys!’. Boys will be boys, but my boys will grow into men!

Don’t presume that my children are brilliant and I’m superwoman because I home school our children. It’s not my fault that my children know who Dionysus, or Alexander, or Brutus was and your’s don’t. It’s not my fault that my children read Shakespeare and your’s don’t. It’s not my fault that my children can appreciate a masterpiece by Delacroix and your’s can’t. It’s not my fault that my children understand natural processes and the scientific method and your’s don’t. It’s not my fault that my kids are eager to learn and your’s aren’t. I teach my children these things… what do you teach yours?

Don’t presume that I’m weak and stupid because I submit to my husband. I can strip down an engine and rebuild it. I can build a house, including wiring and plumbing, from the ground up. I can break a wild horse. I can milk a cow, and a goat, for that matter. I can plant a field and drive a tractor. I can run heavy machinery. I can wield a chainsaw like nobodies’ business. My husband bought me a new ax and a hatchet for my birthday last year and I was thrilled. I have my own set of tools, and they are not pink. I can slaughter a chicken, and dress out a deer. I am an excellent marksmen, with a rifle, handgun, and bow. I am college educated and graduated top of my class. I am well-read, well-versed, and well-spoken. Does that sound weak and stupid to you? I submit to my husband, not only because God demands it, but because he's an amazing man and deserves it.

Don’t presume that we only eat gross or bland food because we eat kosher, or that we can‘t enjoy eating out. Especially if you’ve eaten in my house multiple times and keep coming back for more! We eat well. What’s more than that, we eat healthy. And our choice to abstain from pork, and follow other dietary laws, doesn’t make us kooks, it makes us, US. Oh, and do you children voluntarily choose healthy (kosher!) food over junk, and does your husband and his friends spend hours raving to people they meet about what you cooked for dinner last night? Do you have people beg you to cook your ‘specialty’ for them? No? Mine does and people do. Don’t dog my cooking because I don’t season everything with pig fat.

Don’t presume we’re horrible, strict, mean, or abusive parents because our children behave, have chores, and are held to high standards. It would be completely unacceptable if my husband went to work, did half the job, shoddily, was rude to his customers, and knocked off early because he didn’t feel like working- why should I treat my adults-in-progress as if they are not capable of completing a task without getting distracted or without conducting themselves like brats all the time? I understand each child at each age has limitations, and I expect them to fulfill their potential at that age and ability. Ever wonder why your kids like spending time at my house and actually behave for me when they are hellions for you? Maybe because I don’t let bad attitudes and bad habits slide by ‘because it’s just a phase’- I expect, am given, and GIVE respect! Hard work is rewarding, and completing a job an amazing feeling. Remember, what you learn as a child, you are as adult.

Don’t presume that I’m lazy because you stop by unannounced and my floor needs mopping, my kitchen is a mess, and my kids are dirty. We live here. Our home is not a stop during our daily business, or an inn to sleep in: We love, learn, play, explore, create, experiment, work, study, and embrace life here. Try having 8 people in your house all day long and see if it still looks like a model home. If it does: kudos to you! But most likely, you’ll be pulling your hair out and shouting at everyone to clean up the mess. We clean, and we work hard, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to limit our children by making them stop in the middle of being knighted by the queen for slaying a terrible dragon to have them pick up the blankets and toys they strewed out during their adventure… it can wait until they finish their game! It doesn’t bother me, and if you couldn’t pick up the phone before you left your house for a head’s up, you shouldn’t expect anything less.

Don’t presume that because we live at home that we don’t have lives, friends, appointments, and places to go or are at your very beck and call because we home school . If my best friend has to schedule an afternoon out with me almost a month in advance, and always calls to make sure we‘re home and available, what makes you any better? We will always genuinely welcome guests and help out those who need it, but don’t assume that you can call on me to run your every errand or visit you everyday of the week. Education, for one example, is not a joke, and it doesn’t spontaneously, somehow magically, appear in children’s heads, even in home schooled children‘s heads. We are too busy to have to deal with your misconceptions, and have too much on our calendar to let you waste our time.

Don’t presume we are geeky because we home school or are home schooled. We most definitely aren’t. We aren’t afraid to be ourselves. We know how to express ourselves, converse with people, and we are not bound by societies notions of ‘cool’. And in case I’ve missed something that makes us very cool. We aren’t afraid of being ourselves, whether it’s spending an entire afternoon at an art museum or hanging out with bikers. My children are dancers, cheerleaders, and soon-to-be football and baseball players. We ‘fit in’ and ‘hang out’ with everyone from Mennonites to professional sports players to actors and singers to scientists to missionaries to regular folks off the street. We are not shrouded by cliques or controlled by peer pressure, but if that makes us geeky… so be it.

I could go on and on, but in the interest of time, yours and mine, I’ll leave it there. I hope I’ve not been too rude or straight forward, but if I have, maybe it will make you think before you begin to judge the next person you meet who is like me.

Shalom.

Oh, and I have to add: Yes, they’re all mine AND my husband’s. Yes, we know what causes it- why do you think we have so many? And Yes, we’re glad it us and not you too.

Peace Out.

It's a strange kind of morning...

2010-10-19T02:54:00.000-07:00

It really is.

For one thing, I woke up before my alarm clock this morning (which I never do so I feel uber-productive sitting here at 4:56 am typing away).

For another, I discovered that every drop of my shampoo and conditioner had been used from the bathroom. (No, I'm not complaining! I promise! I just whipped out my DH's new stuff and used it! Who cares if I smell like Old Spice, huh?)

Then I realized I'd forgotten to take the clothes out of the dryer yesterday, so they were wet again from the condensation.

Then my last unbroken coffee mug was mysteriously cracked.

And my cappichino tastes funny (shows what I get for being adventurous first thing in the morning!)

Ah well... I just felt like sharing that. Here's hoping the rest of the day is much more normal!

A Cupcake to Describe Me?

2010-10-08T11:55:00.000-07:00

Yummy- A Cupcake Challenge? OH ABSOLUTELY!

I'm all about the kitchen right now, and so when I found out Amy was hosting this Homemaker's Challenge- in the kitchen- cooking- and I get a yummy treat out of it- I am SO THERE!

I went through a personal debate about what exactly should I do? A traditional cupcake with my own personal flair? A super fancy show-off type cupcake? Or should I abandon the idea of an edible cupcake all around?

Well... you know me- I couldn't pass up the chance to drag out my favorite muffin tin- so here's what I came up with!

OK. It's not 100% original. I got the idea from Martha Stewart, the ultimate homemaker who ironically makes her living teaching others to be just like her. (We will leave out the whole 'her kids hate her and she's divorced' part. It's much better to just focus on what she does best!)

But this cupcake was truly me. At it's core, it's a very simple buttermilk cupcake- 1 bowl, and less than 5 minutes in the mixing. But when you take a closer look, there's something really awesome about it's simplicity. It's surrounded by so much flavor and so much color that you just can't help but appreciate the mix of the classic and the bold.

The frosting is really just plain cream cheese- in my opinion the very, very best cheese discovery EVER! I add it to everything I can. It's rich and creamy, just enough to really make it's presence known, but at the same time, melts in your mouth without too much sweetness or tartness. (Yeah... that's my delectable description of cream cheese- not of me! I'm sure it relates some how, though!)

Add in the chance to drag out the crystal tea cups and I think I've made a new favorite! It's SO GOOD!

And the purple goo at the bottom? Homemade blackberry jam. Need I say more?

Menu Planning in a Small Kitchen

2010-10-06T08:34:00.000-07:00

Now, you may be wondering why I am starting with menu planning when there's so much more organizing that can and should be done in the kitchen. The reason is simple:

The main point of the kitchen is to feed your family!

You can't feed your family if you don't know what you're going to cook!

Ok, maybe you can. But I bet if you do, you end up eating processed foods a lot more than you'd like to admit! We did too, before menu planning became part of my week.

How do you get started menu planning? It can seem like an overwhelming task- you have to come up all that food you're going to eat, make a grocery list for a week (or more) in advance, and how do you know what your family is going to want to eat on a particular day?

Don't get overwhelmed! The simplest way to start menu planning is to keep a notebook on your kitchen counter and write down a meal every time you eat it, and what all you used in cooking that meal. Then, after a couple of weeks, you have a nice little list of foods your family enjoys along with a shopping list, so you just repeat!

If you're more into instant gratification, you still need to start simple. Gather up your favorite recipes for breakfast, lunch, and supper and put them all together in a binder. You can decorate it if you want, but it's not necessary- just give it a home somewhere that's easily accessible for both cooking and planning (You may need to move that part of your home management into the kitchen unless you want a workout dashing back and forth to check how much vanilla extract is left when you're making out your grocery list!)

Now, get a piece of paper and divide it into 3 rows: Breakfast, Lunch, and Supper. Or you can print out my personal favorite (the one pictured below) from here. Flip through your recipe book and as a meal stands out, write it down and pick a day. (Be sure to check your calendar to see what you're doing that day so you'll know if you will have time to cook that particular meal!)

As you decide on meals, open the cabinets and see if you are running low on the ingredients, and add it to your shopping list.

Now, for the clincher: Take those recipes out of the binder as you find them. Move them all to the front. That way, when you are standing over the stove at 6am with sleep in your eyes, you're not hunting for that crepe recipe that doesn't need to sit over night that you planned on cooking that morning!

See? It's not complicated at all! Before long, you'll be able to plan as you go instead of devoting an entire block of time to it once or twice a week! And being ready to USE your kitchen is the first step to having it organized, regardless of size, for your family!

Making Your Home a Haven: Week 1

2010-10-04T14:33:00.000-07:00

Courtney at Women Living Well is hosting a Fall Challenge- Making Your Home a haven. I love reading her blog and I think she's awesome, so I'm so excited to be able to do her Fall Challenge!

I also love this statement she makes:

I believe we women can create a physical environment, as well as a spiritual environment, that can bring peace, harmony and a sense of calmness to our homes if we are willing to be intentional.

Each week, we have a different challenge, relating to making our homes more peaceful for ourselves and our families. Week 1's (which starts today) challenge is this:

October 4 - Go buy an extra large candle and light a candle everyday in your home. I will be starting mine in the morning! But you can start yours at dinner time. Do what makes sense for your family. I will be placing mine in the kitchen - the main hub of my home. Each time the candle catches your eye, say a prayer for peace in your home.

Oh, this is so easy for me! I feel like I'm cheating because I already have the required supplies! AND, I already light it as soon as I sit down to check my email the first time in the morning. :)

(Excuse the pile of paper and Dr. Pepper- I'm taking a break from lesson planning to blog!)

The brown blob in the middle (ok, so it's not an oversized candle!) is my cinnamon roll scented candle. I love it and since it only comes out in the fall, I have a supply! LOL.

So each time I sit down here for this or that (which is about 100 times a day) I will be saying a little prayer for peace in my home.

A wise woman builds her home,
but a foolish woman tears it down with her own hands.
Proverbs 14:1

Will you join me in this challenge?

Unexpected things I love about homeschooling.

2010-09-27T19:52:00.000-07:00

There was a post on the Homeschool Lounge asking what was our ONE, unexpected, favorite thing about homeschooling... I, obviously, couldn't stop at one. :)

Unexpected things I love about homeschooling:

1- Eating breakfast at noon, and not being late for anything.

2- Doing schoolwork on the trampoline in the fall, fighting with the little boys to not bounce us so much!

3- Starting school at 3pm because that movie we've been dieing to see came on after breakfast.

4- Spending an entire day watching cheerleading videos with my little girls.

5- Being able to go shopping when the stores are empty and...

6- Doing schoolwork in the car between stores in our new fuzzy slippers in broad daylight.

7- Watching the light bulb going off in my kids head after they've struggled with something for a while.

8- Listening to the children have educated (for 5 & 6 yos anyway!) conversations about things I didn't realize they'd learned.

9- Forgetting about grammar and science to spend the afternoon learning how to make coins.

10- My six year old teaching an adult stranger about the Native Americans.

11- Listening to my oldest daughter read Treasure Island for the first time when she doesn't realize I'm listening.

12- Staying up until 3 am making jewelry on a school night.

13- Having my son count to 100 one hundred times a day.

14- Experiencing the pain of my first 'drop your child off and drive away' line, and being thankful it's an extremely rare experience.

15- When my two year old, not-even-in-preschool, son reads a book to me.

16- Homeschool Days at museums.

17- Homeschool Days at amusement parks.

18- Homeschool Days at popular attractions.

19- Teacher discounts.

20- Having a child who starts a business at age 6, and actually makes money at it.

21- The look of surprise on public school parents' faces when I tell them my very socially adept children are homeschooled.

22- The look of amazement on teachers' faces when I tell them my children are homeschooled.

23- Finding all the coolest, free hangouts and being able to call them 'field-trips' while we all get to meet awesome people and play all day.

24- "Go ask your Dad."

25- Piled up in pallets in the living room watching Star Wars and Lord of the Ring marathons.

26- Other homeschooling families.

27- Kids who enjoy tramping around old historic sites and Revolutionary War Cemeteries.

28- Being able to catch the earlier tour b/c we're not tied to desks.

29- Being able to catch the later show b/c we're not governed by alarm clocks.

30- Waking up to six kids cuddled under the blankets watching the Wizard of Oz at 4am because there's a thunderstorm outside, then sneaking out of bed at 10 while the kids snooze away.

31- Being the one who sees all the 'firsts': the first smile, the first step, the first picture, the first story read all by theirselves, the first addition problem, the first pangs of their independence.

My little tid-bit for today

2010-09-23T07:38:00.000-07:00

I wish I had something interesting to blog about, but alas... it's just me. :)

We didn't do anything spectacularly interesting yesterday. About the time I got started with school, my DH called to ask me to do some work on his website, so that consumed most of my day yesterday.

I'm going to have the baby (my niece) tomorrow, and probably most of next week, so that's interesting :)

However, this morning, i was getting out of the shower and was ATTACKED by a HUGE spider. I don't know what kind it was... it was just humongous!! The tiles on my bathroom floor are 12"x12" and it took up 1/4 of a tile! I very quietly shrieked (the kids were still asleep after all!) and ran out of the room!

I dashed to the kitchen looking for some type of poison... anything so I wouldn't have to risk getting touched by that spider and found the rabbits' flea spray. I must have used half of the bottle, and watching the spider convulse and cling to my dirty shirt laying in the floor was terrifying! My poor heart was racing and my hands shaking!

Once the smell of flea spray became too overwhelming, I left the room to work up my nerve to dispose of it. It took me and entire load of clothes drying to be able to go in and dump it in the toilet!!

I have no idea why the size of the spider directly correlates to the fear level involved... that one's a mystery to me!

So that's pretty much as interesting as I'm getting today! I hope you enjoyed my little tid-bit!

A Trip to Mulkey Meetinghouse

2010-09-22T06:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, the children and I decided to make up for missing our co-op (where we have an awesome history lesson every week in old, historic buildings) and went to the Old Mulkey Meeting House.

We learned about how the church was formed... what life was like for those that attended, how the church was made, some about the Revolutionary War, and a little bit about Daniel Boone (and family) for good measure. We used maps and compasses to find our way around.

We took rubbings of the graves of Revolutionary War soldiers and talked about why the Revolutionary War happened.

We went on a 'History Quest'- a scavenger hunt that Kentucky designs for their state parks that helps children relate to the historic site.

Then, because we were all tired (and Jude was unbearably cranky) we played at the playground for a few minutes before we drove home and the children explained everything they learned (all at one time! LOL) to their daddy! :)

New Family Members!

2010-08-21T18:14:00.000-07:00

We have new family members!

This morning, after I woke up from sleeping in (I love my DH!) and ate a very yummy chicken and fruit salad my DH prepared, he asked me to get the kids dressed and ready to go out. I had no warning as to where we were going and neither did the kids. They sat in the backseats of the van asking each other, "Who knows where we're going?" "I dunno!" "Somebody HAS to know where we're going!"

He drove us to a local farm supply store where he went in and met, rather secretly I might add, with one of the kids who works there who promptly jumped into a beat up old pick-up truck and pulled out of the drive-way, my husband following in his tracks.

We drove out, the kids still baffled but I was starting to get an inkling of what was going on. When we got to the kid's house (and he put up his bloodhounds- gotta love Tennessee! lol) they walked together around the back of his house and stayed for about 15 minutes- the kids in an uproar the entire time because they had no clue what we were doing there and didn't understand why they couldn't get out to visit.

When Josh walked back around the house, he was carrying a box. He shook hands with the kid and climbed into the car. He handed me the box and I opened it and can you guess what was inside?

Rabbits! Two of them!

Turns out Harmony had been telling her dad how much she wanted a rabbit and he had talked to some friends of his and found out that he knew of a kid who was selling his rabbits because he had gotten a job, plus high school, football, etc and didn't have time to take care of them so Josh put in for them!

One of them is over 8 years old, she's a white and orange rabbit (I don't know the breed) named Ginger. The guy said that she didn't know her name, but she seemed to answer to it when we called her. The other is a dwarf of some sort that's a little under a year old without a name (we're still working on that because the kids want to name her Phineas and we don't like that name lol).

The kids were ecstatic!

We stopped by a building supply store on the way home for Josh to pick up some lumber. When we got home, he built the rabbits a cage while I ran to the store to pick up some cedar chips and a plastic thingy to go under the cage. We got them all set up in the living room now (Where we can keep an eye on the interaction between the bunnies, children, and cats) and it's taken forever to get the kids calmed down enough to go to their bedrooms for bed tonight (Notice I haven't even mentioned sleep... I think it'll be quite a while before they are asleep!)

Harmony's Sparkles!

2010-08-20T22:10:00.001-07:00

This afternoon, Harmony was looking at cheerleading videos and came across the Titans website. She saw that the Titans cheerleaders host a clinic for kids each year and that she was old enough to be included in it. She immediately asked me if it was something that she could be a part of.

I looked through the site and found out when the deadline was, which is right on top of us, and how much it was and told her I thought it was awesome, but she'd probably have to miss a game or two (or three!) from her cheering schedule this year because the clinics on Saturdays and that she'd have to ask her daddy.

She sat and thought about it for a while and came back to talk to me.

"Mom," she says, "I don't want to ask Daddy for $300. That's a lot of money and he might say no! Maybe I can just save my money and go next year!" (The deposit that's due is only $100 with the remainder due in September but she wasn't hearing the $100 after she read the $300! Josh told me after she went to change clothes this evening that he most certainly would have said yes but since she wants to earn it, he was gonna let her!)

"That's a good idea, Harmony! I bet that will make Daddy proud when you tell him the plan you came up with and I'm sure he'll agree!"

So she goes and decorates herself a "Jr. Titans Cheerleading Fund" jar out of a jumbo sized pickle jar (cause "that's a lot of quarters!"), empties her piggy bank into it, and sits to think about it some more.

(There may or may not have been an episode or two of Phineas and Ferb in there-lol!)

She comes back to talk to me.

"Mom- how many pennies are in $300?"

And I tell her.

"Well, how many quarters are in $300?"

So I tell her that too.

"That'll take me forever to save!" she says.

I try to reassure her that she has almost an entire year to save it and I'm sure that she can do it, but it doesn't do very much to comfort her. She starts trying to come up with ideas of how to make money. First is raising mice (which she told me this evening she 'hadn't ruled out yet!' although she's decided she'd rather raise rabbits than mice so the snakes don't eat them), then selling old toys on ebay (but she got discouraged when I told her how much she'd spend on shipping for the toys she was thinking about selling, even after I told her other people would pay for the shipping).

Then Jude walks up and hits her with a necklace.

"MOM! I can sell necklaces! I can make them too! Kyla taught me how!!"

I told her that was a great idea and we talked about it for a few minutes. She's thought of a business name (hence the 'Harmony's Sparkles'), 'borrowed' $27 from her dad (to which she said "I don't want to keep it, Daddy. I want to spend it and make money and pay you back!"), bought all her supplies (and spent exactly $27) and made her first necklace and bracelet tonight all by herself! (Ok, her dad helped her tie the clasps on, but she did all the bead-work!)

We went to the drive-in where she took her newly made jewelry into the concession stand and walked out a few minutes later beaming because she'd sold her first two pieces. :) (Which btw, were really pretty and I tried to talk her into giving to me, but she wasn't having it unless I paid for them- the little stinker!)

So for everyone who asked (including me since apparently I don't qualify for a free sample!), I've been instructed to tell you all that Harmony will sell her jewelry for the following prices:

Necklaces- $5

Bracelets- $4

Rings- $3

Complete Sets (matching necklace, bracelet, and ring)- $10

(I can't make up my mind whether she's charging exorbitant prices, or undercharging but that's what she says she wants to sell them for so that's what I'm telling you!) In all fairness, she's very good at making them and all the patterns are her own originals she's designed and you can't really even buy comparative jewelry at a flea market for those prices!)

So, if you're interested, just send me a message or call me and let me know and I will pass it on and she will get to work on it for you!

The Long Awaited Series!

2010-08-13T11:50:00.000-07:00

Got your attention?

I am not starting this today, but I've been thinking a lot about it and I do believe that I am finally going to post to you a series on organizing a small kitchen for a large family!

Now, you might ask, "What makes this woman think she can tell me how to organize MY kitchen? It can't be done!! My kitchen is just too small, my family is just too large... I need a renovation or, better yet, a bigger house!" I am here to tell you that I can tell you how to organize your kitchen- it's just up to you to know whether or not you're going to listen to me!

My kitchen is 12x10. Not only do I keep a kosher kitchen, but I also buy groceries for the month for 8 people (that's including FOUR BOYS and one hungry husband)as well as extras for holidays and treats and special occasions. We don't buy convenience foods: we bake, we slice, dice, and puree. We stir-fry and broil, and saute. We make sauces. Tonight the girls and I are making cinnamon rolls from scratch.

But that's not all. I use my kitchen as "Command Central" for my house: My desk is in the kitchen and office supplies, my gardening supplies, book, and small tools, the kids' school supplies and umpteen- million books are in here, we have a 2x3 dance floor, ballet barre, my tools and building supplies, and scrapbook and other craft project supplies and projects in various stages of completion... all stored in this small area. Sounds like a lot of things in a small space doesn't it?

Let me tell you something.

My kitchen isn't cluttered. Things are not lost, never to be found. The only things sitting on my kitchen counters are a bowl of fruit, 2 vases of flowers, a microwave, and a coffee maker. I could walk to the cabinets and find exactly what I'm looking for, and I have SPARE room in all my cabinets that could be filled up! I'm not superwoman, and my house does get messy (who's doesn't with a houseful of children?!) but in this one area, in this one thing- I know I know what I'm talking about. And I want to share that information with you because your kitchen should be the heartbeat of your home and too often it's the most hated room in the house. So- It's my hope that someone, even just one person is blessed by what I'm planning on sharing.

I think I will post one day a week until we work our way all the way through, and we'll get started next Wednesday.

Whatcha think?

My List of 11 Reasons why it's awesome to have multiple kids

2010-07-19T11:53:00.000-07:00

OK, so it's been forever since I've blogged. I apologize. Maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to find time to go into what's been keeping me so busy... but for now- I feel inspired and I want to share!

I read a blog, posted by a facebook friend (that's a link to the company she has to raise awareness and funds for several conditions that affect children if you want to check it out), that was posted by another woman, based on the blog of this other woman, who happened to come across this article.

Following so far?

So if you don't have time or inclination to peruse all the links, here's the short version:

This woman had a bad, frustrating night out with her kids. She went home and wrote a snarky book entitled 40 Reasons for Not Having Children. And she has two children.

Poor things.

Then this other woman felt inspired to use Ms. Snarky's (not her real name obviously) 40 reasons to write her own 40 reason to HAVE children. They're pretty good, although a bit formal for my taste, but good nonetheless.

So this other woman decided to write a post on her 10 Reasons for Having Kids. Much more up my alley because she has a quirky sense of humor that I can especially appreciate.

Which led to this woman writing her 100 reasons for having kids (besides the fact that I absolutely love her blog- definitely a must read!) that are both cute, funny, sentimental, and refreshing.

And that woman inspired this woman (*me* Hi!) to do my own list! So I changed the topic/name a bit because I have very little experience with just one or two children at a time. Alright, here goes:

The Crunchy Mommy’s

List of Reasons to Have Multiple Children

(Please note that most of these reasons I’ve come up with in the last 10 minutes based on conversation(s) and experiences I’ve had with my own children! I decided to go a little out of the box here and give reasons why having more than a couple kids in great, since I can’t top the aforementioned lists!)

#1- You have can have your back scratched constantly, and your arm will never get tired!

As in “Mommy, scratch my back!” “No, Jude. Mommy’s washing dishes.” “Ga-gan, scratch my back” *The scratching commences* “Ninny, scratch my back” *round two* “Forrest, scratch my back.” (You get the idea)

#2- You’re area of expertise suddenly gets much wider.

Admit it, before kids you were really good at a couple of things. After kids, you are suddenly a short-order cook, a decorator, an emergency medical specialist, a professional potty trainer, a killer laundress (as in you know how to get blood, dirt, ketchup, mustard, grass stains and everything else out of that new white dress your daughter looks so adorable in), a coach of multiple sports, a teacher, a therapist, a construction worker, a policeman, an accountant, a party planner, etc. etc.

(So yeah, this one is an old reason, but since I just finished cooking lunch, doctoring an arm, untying a knot of beads the cat ‘somehow’ got tangled into, fixing a broken tap shoe, and reattaching a light fixture to the ceiling that ‘miraculously just fell’ I am feeling just a bit multi-functional right now!)

#3- Bodily functions and fluids don’t freak you out anymore.

You’ve been up to your eyeballs in all of them. Discussed them in great detail. Made up cute little songs about them. Examined them in great detail. Waited impatiently for them to happen. Seen, smelled, felt, and, unfortunately, tasted most of them. And you’ve come to conclusion that if your kid is going to get one of them on you, you prefer spit because it doesn’t have that nasty after smell… and you realize you’ve somehow become one of those parents.

(Be honest, now! We’ve all been there!)

#4- You can hear something happening that shouldn’t be from 500 yards away. Even if it’s not your kids, or kids in general, that’s doing it.

Nobody ever said that Mommy Radar was limited to catching children. Your neighbor’s dog is in the trash again? You can bet that you’ll hear the little ding go off in your head.

#5- You are suddenly the meanest, most ferocious momma bear EVER. And you completely overcome all the things you were scared of as a child, to protect your kids from them.

Yeah, it’s a good thing. Just ask your cubs when the mean ole spiders come along.

#6- You know when the bible says “Be still and know that I am God” ? You learn how to ‘be still’ and find a quiet place anywhere and anytime…

…even when you have a stove full of food, there are 5 other people talking, 6 trucks running under your feet, 2 people screaming, a tv blaring, a radio blasting, a tea pot whistling, a phone ringing, things clattering to the floor, and a toy cat that is somehow still meowing from the trash can 3 days after you threw it in the pool and fried the batteries.

#7- “Big Brothers/Sisters” love to change diapers so they can be like Mommy/Daddy. And they love to brush hair. And pick out clothes. And mop the floor. And wash laundry. And take out the trash. And answer the phone. And wash the car. They think it’s AWESOME.

‘Nough said.

#8- There’s always enough hands and feet.

For fixing a bloody head. For a ball game. For a board game. For a video game. For cleaning the house in a hurry. For toting all your stuff to the car. For carrying groceries in from the car. For a big ole bear hug. For planting a garden. For moving boxes. For cooking and serving dinner. For entertaining people. For everything.

#9- You learn how to be really, really, really quiet.

When there are three or four cranky pre-schoolers down for a nap, you learn how to walk, wash dishes, run the washer, watch those episodes of Chuck that you’ve missed because of dance class and karate and talk on the phone all without making a single sound.

#10- Your brain increases in size with each child you have.

Ok,ok. Probably not really. But there’s a reason that our parent’s generation says ‘If you want something done, and done right, ask a busy mom.’ We are the ultimate multi-taskers. We’re so good at multi-tasking that we don’t even realize we are multi-tasking. You learn to compartmentalize and still relate each and every different topic to the other and they seem to flow seamlessly. And people never understand how you accomplish it all, when to you, it doesn’t seem like it was a big deal.

#11- You know the difference between a 'I'm Dieing' shriek and an 'I think I'm dieing' shriek

And you know that if they have enough consciousness to think their dieing, they probably won't.

So... there it is. 11 of my favorite reasons for having more than one kid. I'm being a bit facetious so please don't send me mean emails telling me how horrible it all seems to you, because I enjoy my life, and I hope you enjoys yours too!

Happy Birthday to Jude!

2010-06-08T07:35:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to Jude!

Today celebrates TWO entire years that my Juders has been here! YEA! (Yes, I am very sad that he is most definitely NOT a baby baby anymore, but he's still MY baby so that's alright!)

In typical me fashion, I've spent last night and this morning thinking over the last two years and what all has happened in his little life thus far.

Jude was born very precariously. I had a VBAC with him a mere 13 months after delivering my second set of twins 5 weeks early with an emergency c-section.

Yeah.

The doctors were gracious enough to tell me, about 20 minutes after he was born, that he had a kidney condition that they'd been monitoring in vitro for several months. (I'm still rolling my eyes. Talk about a 'the baby's fine' speech. "Oh, your son's labor was so difficult and dangerous not because of you but because of a congenital condition we conveniently forgot to mention to you, which is why we waited so long to take him and clean him up because we were worried he wouldn't survive the birth" "ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!?" was my response. I was very angry with the doctors!)

He has a multi-cystic dysplastic kidney. Which simply means that his left kidney was so full of cysts that it couldn't function properly and the best we could hope for was for that kidney to completely STOP working so it quit throwing the rest of his body out of whack.

He had high blood pressure, ever-threatening kidney infections, and the threat of the WRONG kidney shutting down because of the chemical imbalance for the first two months of his life. Very Scary. Here I was having to worry constantly and I hadn't had any time to prepare my mind for it. I was a wreck. It did eventually shut down and we all breathed a collective sigh of relief when his little body finally was able to regulate itself.

Then he stopped gaining weight and got severe diarrhea around the time he was four months old. Both of which can be symptoms of kidney failure. One doctor we took him to actually thought I was purposefully starving him and reported us to CPS because 'I was killing my baby". *ugh* I kept thinking, 'if I was trying to kill him, I wouldn't have TAKEN him to the doctor because he's so skinny in the first place!" I reported the doctor and took him to a slew of other, more qualified physicians, all of whom thought that it MUST have something to do with his kidney or some other unknown condition that he had but was too scared to diagnose anything.

Finally, I took him to my mom's doctor. She doesn't specialize in children, but she's been practicing for over 40 years and isn't scared of anything. She looked at him, listened to his symptoms, did some blood work, and promptly diagnosed him. Lactose Intolerant.

Seriously?

Yeah. All that fuss, all the people coming to my house threatening to steal my babies because 'I was killing Jude', all those sleepless nights and dazed days because he has a lactose sensitivity and the doctors were too scared of bureaucrats to diagnosis him. Since I was breast feeding, I cut dairy out of my diet and started supplementing him with soy formula.

Problem solved!

So, although we are very good friends with both the nephrologist and the urologist and will be for many many years to come, my Jude is turning two today. I did NOT kill him. (*seriously still rolling my eyes*) The entire family drinks soy milk and we buy special lactose free cheeses (for family meals anyway!). And today, my baby is a happy, healthy 27 pound butterball! :)

He loves to fight with his brothers (and usually wins because I always end up shouting 'Don't be hitting your little brother!) and idolizes his Ninny (my oldest daughter, Harmony). He's in love with his cousin and named all the baby dolls in the house after her. He wants to watch Iron Man every single day, all day long! He chases my cats and carries around the kittens and waits every single day by the bay window waiting for his daddy to pull into the drive-way. The other day, he slid down the slide by himself for the first time. He's my sweetie. :)

We're having a private family party this evening, and then we are going to go this weekend and have a large family party with my niece (who's turning 15 tomorrow) at the local pool! Whoohooo!

I'm Baaackkk! Catching up on painting, graduations, and teeth!

2010-05-24T20:35:00.000-07:00

OK, at least for a little while :) I thought I'd drop in tonight and share some of what we've been up to in this neck of the woods the last couple of weeks.

BJ and I spent two very hectic and exhausting weeks designing and building the set for my Harmony's graduation. This is a (rather bad) picture of the final product. I tried to take a panoramic picture but didn't have anything to steady my hands, so it didn't turn out the best in the world. :) It has Jeremiah 29:11 on it, which was their theme verse.

B and I got flowers for making it and a sweet card.

Then came my family from out of state for the graduation. My dad took Harmony out shopping and bought her a new bike as a graduation gift (and bought Gabe and Elijah one as a late birthday present!)

She had to dress up as what she wanted to be when she grows up; and she wanted to be a princess! So we got her all dolled up and bought her a princess dress, and tiara, and shoes, and a petticoat (how cool is that?) and jewelry, etc, etc!

She did very well; they had to sing several songs and repeat several little poems and such. But she looked so cute in her cap and gown!

And she received her kindergarten diploma with the poise of a princess. You notice she doing a curtsy while receiving it right? She planned that for days in advance because 'that's how princesses say Thank You!'

Then we went out to the restaurant of her choice: China Buffet. She got to eat her first sushimi and about five ice cream cones!

The next day, Saturday, we all went to the park to celebrate and ride the new bikes!

Then, tonight, Harmony 'became a real big kid' and lost her first tooth!

And so, I've had enough growing up milestones to last me a while!! I don't know whether to be happy about her (and them... did I mention that Jude has decided he HAS to be potty trained and has gone two evenings in a row without a diaper?) or to be sad because their getting so big!

Show us your life- Baby Names

2010-05-07T04:59:00.000-07:00

When I was growing up, I never even thought about childrens names. Seriously, even though the majority of my friends already had a boys and a girls name picked out, and several have used those names they picked in their teenage years, I just didn't care.

So whenever we got pregnant the first time, Josh was at basic training (when we found out) and I finally had to start thinking about names. I've always loved J-names. Jonathan, James, Joseph, Joshua...go figure, right? I married one! Jennifer, Jessa, Janna... so those were the names I gravitated to.

Of course, Josh didn't like any of them. And still doesn't. But here's how we picked the names:

Harmony Michelle- I told how we picked Harmony here and Michelle is the middle name of a dear friend of mine, who I always wanted and still want Harmony to grow up and be like.

Forrest Nathanael- I actually loved the name Forrest, even after the movie came out and it was so associated with it. I didn't care. Forrest means kingly or stately and it suited our first son. Nathanael, of course, means walks with God... good, strong name, right?

Regan Elise- Regan is Gaelic for queen (and we went through a very brief period where we were gonna give Forrest the name Ray some where because it means king, but we changed our minds!) so since we both have Irish blood in us, it seemed suitable. Elise is a French version of my mothers Spanish name, Alecia (which of course is Alice in Spanish!)

Elijah Liam- originally, Elijah was going to be Gabe's middle name, but we decided against it. Elijah was, of course, a major prophet, and some texts refer to him as the silent prophet, which suits Jah to a T. He is actually the only one of my children who is dark haired, skinned, and eyed, plus he's quiet and subdued and only speaks when he has something to say so the name suits him well... a friend of mine actually picked out Liam (Gaelic for protection).

Gabriel Levi- Oh my goodness, WHY would we name a child after the "Voice of God"? Gabriel is loud and pale... but the name came from my MIL who thought he would need a voice in the midst of all of our children. (And boy, does he have one!!) Levi is the name Josh picked out and it means United, although he picked it out because his middle name is Lee. LOL

Jude Connor- Josh picked Jude's name, although we didn't decide for sure until the administrator was asking to fill out his birth certificate! I've always loved J-names like I said, and Josh picked out Connor because it sounds good with Jude!

So that's how we picked out names! If Jude had been a girl, or if we have another girl, I am almost set on Charlotte Ruth (although knowing us, that will change a dozen times before we actually have another girl!) and Josh says if we have another boy, his name will be Noah... I think he said Noah Samuel, but I am not 100% positive on that one! :)

My baby's got an ear infection! :(

2010-05-04T20:08:00.000-07:00

My poor little Jude Connor has an ear infection, but not the way you'd think...

He was bitten on the ear by a tick the other day while visiting his Nana's house, and although we got the entire tick out, his poor little ear doesn't seem to realize that. Yesterday afternoon it was all swollen and purple. He was up at 3 in the morning on Monday with it aching, and he just won't stop picking at it so I pledged that if it wasn't better by today we were off to see the doctor.

It wasn't better.

So this afternoon, after Regan literally tried to set the house on fire (LOL don't ask! I promise: it's a LONG story!) and we were sure it was out with minimal damage to any and all personal property, we set off to try and make it to his doctor. We had to drive through several areas where the flood water hasn't receded and through lots and lots of debris, but we did make it and they did work him in.

And the diagnosis? He doesn't have lyme disease or any other scary, yucky thing that results from tick bites, it's just gotten infected from where he won't leave it alone. The doctor prescribed the first round of antibiotics for 10 days Jude's ever taken and told me if it gets any worse and not better to bring him directly back.

Fun.

But so far, Jude feels better... (especially since while we were waiting on them to fill the prescription he got to buy a toy tiger and a toy horse and ran into his Uncle Dale who stood in the middle of the store and played with Jude's feet!) He's sleeping, finally, and hopefully the swelling will be down by tomorrow and it will stop aching him so much!

"The Monsoon of 2010"

2010-05-03T07:41:00.000-07:00

People around here are calling this weekend the 'Monsoon of 2010'. It literally did not stop raining from Friday night until early, early this morning. Thankfully, we live on top of a hill and didn't suffer any flood damage, but that doesn't mean that our yard wasn't under a foot of standing water, and the bottom of our hollow was... well I couldn't even tell you how deep the water was down there, because I wasn't getting close enough to find out!! The picture about this paragraph is from the bridge in Red Boiling Springs, in the middle of town! You can see our old house in the right hand side of the picture!

I was in Nashville on Saturday afternoon, and got out just as they were closing down I-24 because it was under water! There was a man that was stuck on the interstate that caught a fish swimming past his car!!

Remember the waterfall we went to for our Tennessee Unit Study? This is it after 17 inches of rain in two days.

This is the road we live off of.

There is a road under that water!

Here, the road was flush with the ground.

This was a standing hay pasture.

Another picture of the road we live off of.

We haven't even ventured out of the house this morning, but the sun is shining so hopefully the water will be receding!

Snails, Sales, and Prayers

2010-04-28T15:15:00.000-07:00

We've been learning about bugs and the kiddos decided they wanted to hunt some today. (YUCK) And although eventually, I know we probably should make a bug shadow box or some such yucky project, today we were just looking. We went walking through the woods and found all sorts of strange and unusual things (unfortunately I left my camera at the house, so no pictures!) from Hercules beetles to praying mantises to centipedes. All different types of ants and termites, and good gracious at all the different beetles and kinds of spiders! Who knew there was so many types of creatures living in our backyard?!? (well, I had an idea, but knowing the numbers is A LOT different from seeing them crawling, creeping, and stalking around in all their numerous glory!)

Their favorite thing that they found were snails. They found several, but the one they tortured (lol) the most was a big fat juicy one about as long as my index finger. They LOVED putting it on the table to watch it slide across it, but now I have great slimy snail trails across the glass table outside! (LOL)

Then I called an auto salvage place to come buy my old van. I was absolutely SICK of it sitting in my driveway so I sold it! Josh was so shocked when he got home, but he was pleased with it after I reassured him I didn't sell it to them for $50 or something! LOL

And on that note, I would also like to ask for everyone to pray for my friend's little boy, Josiah. He has Hurler's Syndrome, and had to travel with his whole family to Minnesota from Tennessee to get a bone marrow transplant, chemo, and a bunch of other tests and treatments for the condition. Luckily, his twin brother was a match for the bone marrow so he didn't have to wait for a donor. He's in the home stretch now, and has been told that he should be able to go home early, (they've been there for 85 days and should be able to go home on Monday, instead of staying for 100 days, so he's actually been doing really good!) but his mommy got a call that one of his x-rays showed he had some fluid building around his heart. So, if you think about it, say a little prayer for him! (You can read about his journal at their blog Josiah's Journey)

Have a great evening, all!

Some little known tidbits...

2010-04-27T05:00:00.000-07:00

Since I LOVE me some blog parties, and i LOVE me some At the Well, it stands to reason that when At the Well is having a little mini blog party, with a Starbucks gift card up as a give-away, i would have to join in!

So, let me tell you some little known facts about me... in the interest of getting to know every one better!

I am 12, yes twelve, years younger than my closest sibling!
I have been an aunt since I was 2 1/2 years old!
I am short! I'm 4' 11" tall (although if you ask me in person, I will automatically tell you I am 5'! That inch matters!) and I am married to a tall man (he's a little over 6'!)
My brother calls me Residue... get it? Desiree in pig latin! LOL
Every year for Christmas, some member of my family, usually my brother again, gives me a bottle of rubbing alcohol.
I read, a lot. Which is ok because I'm a fast reader.
I love coffee, and have a coffee collection! I keep different flavors and blends of coffee from all different brands and studied and studied until I can make almost every drink that Starbucks offers! And some of them, if I do say so myself, are yummier with my little additions. ;)
My all-time favorite coffee drink is an iced white chocolate mocha!
I think my neighborhood is too populated... and I live on a dead end road in the middle of no-where with 4 neighbors.
I have enough Native American blood in me to be a registered Native American, although I'm not, and don't particularly want to be, although the offer has been made several times.
I can trace my patrimonial genealogy on my father's side all the way back to the first French immigrants to America in 1781. And I know the story of why and how they came to America, who they were, where they came from, and what happened after they got here.
I can trace my patrimonial genealogy on my mother's side almost back to the Middle Ages in Ireland. I know my family crest, their history and story, and how they fought to resist having to immigrate until my grandfather was a 4 year old boy and his father's farm was sowed with salt and they had almost no choice in the early 1930's!
I am a quiet person by nature. I am one of those types who will talk your ear off if the need arises, but mainly prefer to listen. It's not shyness, trust me!, I just prefer to have something useful to say before I say anything!
Our family hobby is professional wrestling! LOL. (Before you go insane and click away, yes we know it's scripted! Yes, there are inappropriate topics,etc on there. But I've known pro wrestlers, personally, all my life and we all love it! There is good in the midst as well... Regan, as young as she is has said, "John Cena never gave up on his dream even though the doctors told him he wouldn't be able to wrestle anymore- I'm not giving up on mine because mine they said I can't! I'm gonna be a dancer, whether the doctors think I can or NOT!" How could I argue with that?!?)
When I was a teenager, I was the only girl on our regional soccer team. And I played Goalie!
Last year, everyone I knew said that my yard would never produce use-able or pretty plants. Last year, I planted one crop of 10 plants apiece green beans and one of wax beansevery day! and had enough to give away, after we'd eaten our fill
I decorate in the same colors I dress in: greens, blues, reds and browns.
I LOVE my apron and wear it every chance I get.
I don't cut my hair.
I believe that history is fascinating and always should be.
I believe that science is amazing, and always should amaze you.
When i was in high school (homeschooled) I went on several field trips with the John MacCain (from the Creation Research institute!)
I don't like noise making, beeping, clanking, automated toys and they loose their batteries very quickly when someone gives them to my kids.
I think kids should use their imaginations more than the prescribed operation of those toys. I've seen children that don't know how to play anything other than "McDonald's" without toys and I think it's heart-breaking! My kids have been kings and queens, scientists, cowboys, Indians, pirates, race-car drivers, emperors, genies, moms and dads, explorers, presidents, doctors, news casters, rock stars, dinosaurs, monsters, Egyptians, and airplanes (to name but a few) and that's how I think it should be!
I LOVE Monopoly. I have not lost a game of Monopoly in over 10 years! It's my favorite game!
I am very crafty, I can do anything besides tatting, which I've never learned to do.

How's that for learning a few things about me? LOL. I can't wait to read what everyone else has written!

Pageants, Tornados, and Happy Tears!

2010-04-26T04:55:00.000-07:00

I forgot just how much I love Monday mornings! That sounds incredibly strange doesn't it? LOL!

But I love the opportunity to sit and reflect on everything that happened this weekend.

I had planned on going to the Louisville Nature Center this weekend for their Earth Day celebration, but then, luckily, I was reminded that my niece Krista had a beauty pageant so we quickly changed our plans so we could go cheer for her!

I, personally, am not a big fan of pageants, but I love my nieces and would NEVER tell them that! LOL. BJ and I tease each other all the time... I tell her "I wouldn't ever want to be a pageant mom" and she tells me "At least I'm not a soccer and cheerleading mom!" hehe. It's all in good fun though, because I'm at every pageant and she's at every game!

Then Saturday night, we had some scary weather! We were up late from our naps and Josh and I were taking pizza out of the oven, when my computer started thundering. I have this program that does that every time there's severe weather. So I checked it, and there was a tornado warning for ... pretty much the next road over from our house! They said the tornado would be there within ten minutes!

We live at the top of a hill and DON'T have a storm shelter, although Josh keeps promising me to build one. We jumped in the van and drove to the sheriff's department, which is one of the strongest buildings around, to wait out the storm. It was SO SCARY!

Luckily, the tornado was just an EF0... which means it only damaged some trees and roof-tops and other slight damage. *sigh* I don't think any tornado is less scary although I am glad there wasn't that much damage. We were lucky too, because our power comes from 'down the hill' instead of 'on the hill' and we didn't even lose electricity when it went through.

Then on Sunday...

Josh finally went to church with me! I told him I didn't care WHERE we went, as long as we WENT as a family. And so, on Sunday morning, he got up, reluctantly, and got dressed and we went to a church a few miles down the road that I'd never been to.

You could tell that he was so nervous, but the people stepped up and really made him feel welcome. An usher came by and introduced himself and asked Josh and I if we were saved. Josh told him he was having trouble with his faith (after the murder of Jessica, and the deaths of so many friends and loved ones we had at the end of last year) and the usher prayed for him and told him that he would still be praying for him during the message and if he needed anything to just come and find him.

The pastor stepped up and started talking. He was great, and the message was awesome. He spoke on living in depression and how the bible teaches us to live each day as though it was the day when Christ would come back, because one day will be that day. As soon as he was finished, the usher came rushing over and said to Josh, "Brother, that message was just for you, wasn't it?"

Josh broke down and said "Yes. It was."

He walked with Josh to the alter, and almost all the men in the church went to pray with him and encourage him. When he came back to the seat, he was smiling like I haven't seen in smile in a long time! We stayed and visited for a little while and on the way home, Josh told me he had rededicated him life to Christ with a big smile on his face.

When we got home, he even thanked me for forcing him to go because he was planning on going and using the bad experience as an excuse to not go back! But he said he wants to go on Wednesday and promised the children we ALL could go back on Sunday.

Praise God, I am still crying... I'm so happy! I had been praying all night Saturday and all morning that God would lead us to a church with a message that Josh would hear... he certainly did!

“Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28)

A Trip to the Dentist and Notebooking Days 2 & 3

2010-04-23T18:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we went to Nashville, the capital of Tennessee...

While we were there, we went to the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville (which is the capital of Tennessee, you know).

The kids loved the exhibits and took a real interest in them, especially in the First Tennessean section.

We were a sight to see in ourselves, among all the business people out and about!

Josh actually let me a take a picture of him!

This morning, Elijah and Forrest had a dentist appointment. Elijah's been complaining that his tooth is hurting so off we went! He was all clear though! No cavities! The dentist said he was cutting his last 'first' molars and they were probably making his gums achy!

Forrest has to see the dentist more regularly than the other kids because of his two dead teeth... but he was all clear again! No further decay in this front teeth and no cavities to be found!

They LOVE the dentist because they always they make out like bandits if they are well behaved!

Now, onto NOTEBOOKING, which is Harmony's new favorite part of school!

We made a page about Nashville, which is the capital, you know. :)

(All I've heard the last two days is "You know, Nashville is the capital of Tennessee, you know Mommy!" LOL)

And we learned what "state" means!

And we made a page about the Tennessee State Museum (Which is in the CAPITAL, you know? LOL)

It says " My favorite exhibit was 'the fire that was not real'. My favorite item was 'the people'. Some thing I learned is 'about the people that hunted mammoth' "

And that's our trip to Nashville and the dentist (which isn't in Nashville).

...which is the CAPITAL of Tennessee, you know!

Why I love homeschooling... and our first attempt at notebooking!

2010-04-21T15:06:00.000-07:00

When else do you get to experience God's creation like this with your kids, and NOT feel guilty about quizzing them on types of rocks, and trees, and wildflowers?

We are starting a unit study on Tennessee, that I actually made up myself (and will have to research right alongside Harmony to learn some of the facts in my very ambitious outline!) from an idea I got from EasyFunSchool.

I love where we live, and the kids are constantly asking questions about the state so I thought it would be fun, even though I didn't do a state study until I was in 6th grade... if they are curious, we should satisfy that curiosity, right?

I mean, what better way to learn about native fish then trying to catch them? LOL

Or to learn about wildflowers then by finding them in the wild?

I also wanted to find a way to make what they're learning stick and decided to try notebooking for the first time.

I set my budding, six year old, photographer loose with my camera (eeekkkk!) and the instructions to take pictures of what Tennessee meant to her for her front page.

This is what she came up with, at home and decorated of course, although she took both of these pictures and about 200 more... she said these were her favorites.

(I did the writing on this page, and wrote what she wanted me to.)

Then I told her to pick her two favorite pictures from our trip to the waterfall this morning, and write something about it (I supplied the lines).

Here's what she made.

It says "The water at the water fall was amasing. I had fun. April 21, 2010"

So how are we doing with the notebooking so far?

My Harmony

2010-04-20T20:09:00.000-07:00

Oh, my sweet and wonderful Harmony.

My kind, caring, loving, helpful, smart, funny, imaginative, carefree, intelligent, capable, beautiful first child and oldest daughter. My adorable baby girl, who is growing up much too fast and is quick enough on the uptake to take on her momma and figure out my tricks and techniques carefully designed to outwit a very witty six year old.

My child you have inherited genes from some of the most stubborn, hard-headed, and willful people this world has ever known.

How I try to teach you right from wrong, and the attitudes and mind-sets that will set you far ahead of anything your father and I have ever dreamed of; how I hope that you inherit our good qualities without being subject to our bad ones that we struggle to overcome.

I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am of you every moment of your life.

How my heart soars when you master a new skill. How I cherish your every smile and silly song. How I relish your help, and your ability to rise to the occasion when someone's hurting or sad.

In the same way, I can't tell you how much it hurts me to discipline you.

How I wish I could take all your sadness and tears away and never make anything but a smile appear on that lovely face. I wish you would understand that every action has a consequence, whether it be good or bad, in this world or the next.

Daughter of my heart, please listen to me.

I don't expect more of you because you are the oldest or because you are a girl... I expect more of you because I have more to teach you. I can't teach your brothers to provide for a family, to lead and to support. I can't teach your brothers to be feminine and helpful, to run a household like a woman can.

But I can teach you, my sweet, sweet little girl.

The same attitudes and actions that you struggle with are the ones when harnessed and controlled are the ones that will some day make you the wonderful woman that I know you will be:

Your innate sense of fairness, that shows itself in how you struggle against anger when you perceived to be wronged will one day guide your hand in protecting those who've been wronged.

My child, you must learn that life is not always fair before you can understand enough change it as much as you can.

Your over-protectiveness of your 'babies' and things will one day help you learn how to care for the precious items you will be in charge of in your own home.

But, my baby, you must learn that things are temporal, and never last, before you can truly appreciate their value.

Your strong emotions will one day lead you to love your husband and children fiercely, and help you be a better wife and mother in the lives that will some day intertwine with your own.

My sweetie, you must learn that emotions must be controlled before you can truly feel them.

My child, I will do my very best to raise you in the way you should be raised.

I will not promise to get you everything you want, because I won't. I will not promise you that you will never be disciplined for behaviors that require chastisements, because I will. I won't promise you that I'll make your life easy enough to skate through, because I won't.

But, my darling, there is so much wonder in this world I want to share with you.

I will promise you that I will try and teach you the things you need to know, both academically and socially, that you will be able to succeed in whatever path God has laid out for you. I will promise you that I will always be there for you, to guide you and talk to you, and love you. I will promise you that I will equip you to lead a life of servitude, servitude to the Almighty who entrusted me with such a wonderful soul such as yours.

Sometimes the road is hard, but the reward is worth it.

I will try to not fail you, my love.

I don't have a thing to do... and I'm glad!!

2010-04-19T05:24:00.000-07:00

When I woke up this morning, I experienced something strange, and I almost couldn't wrap my mind around it. I have no pressing issues, nothing urgent that needs to be, and absolutely no plans for this week or weekend except to get the grass cut, clean the girl's bedroom, and go watch my 'new' niece's pageant this weekend. Seriously?

Seriously.

And I think that I am kind of glad.

You see, this weekend heralded the long anticipated wedding of my darling sister in law, and in all honesty, my best friend, Bj! And it truly was an all weekend affair!

I think I left off with the events of Wednesday, didn't I? Where my van was being towed off, and I was feeling very sad.

On Thursday, BJ picked me up in the afternoon around 3 (shortly after my van was towed to the mechanics!) and we drove to Madison (right outside of Nashville) to get every last bit of the shopping finished for the wedding. We picked up her dress at David's bridal, picked up the best man's tux at Men's Warehouse, and drove to Rivergate mall to buy little Kelley a dress. We stopped at Wally World on our way back home and bought the remainder of drinks, undergarments (or fat suckers, as we call them LOL), some ribbon, and foam board for signs for the wedding.

We even made it home before dark!

After my kiddos were in bed, I dragged out my Cricut and made the signs that would hopefully keep people from walking through her wedding area, since the actual ceremony was going to be on an intersection of the local walking track. I only got one picture, before it was glued down!, but I make one in blue and pink, and one in black and pink as well. :)

On Friday, Josh stayed home from work because he "loves his baby sister, and didn't want her to go insane having to try and finish up all the detail without me to calm her down!" LOL

Jamie, the middle child of the family (:D) arrived from Florida, and the three of us went to get our nails and toes done.

Dale was off getting details of his stores wrapped up so he could take the day off, and so we brought little Kelley with us. She was a dream baby, as usual (lucky B) and oh-so-cute!

It's been forever since I had my nails done, and even longer since I've gotten a pedi so I was thrilled, of course! I would've taken a better picture of my feet, where they don't look all funky but Josh thought I was insane for taking a picture of my feet (which I didn't do until yesterday) and was shaking me! LOL so you have to deal with a funky feet picture!

They did a good job at the salon, but it took so long it was basically time for the rehearsal when we were finished! Josh called just in the nick of time and told me that the van was ready and I could go pick it up from the mechanics! So BJ and Jamie dropped me off and ran in one direction and I paid for the repairs (a cam sensor! How crazy is that?!?) and took off in a hurry in the other!

I went and picked up my three big kids, and my mother in law, and we all dashed to the park for the rehearsal.

After rehearsal, we ran to the welcome center to set up for the reception and I ended up walking a very tired and cranky Kelley while BJ dashed about for a while. (Can you tell how much I minded? LOL )

Then we were all supposed to be going home, but when I went to pick the rest of our stuff that I'd forgotten at B's, she gave me a few last minute errands to run, and my mother in law decided I was too tired and too busy to cook and ordered pizza from Dale's pizzeria. (BLESS HER!)

We finally got home around 7 and shoveled some food into our stomachs, and I went to pick up a car that I was borrowing to get Robbie (my MIL) and me to the hair and make up in the morning.

When I came home, I finished working on the songs for the wedding and discovered I was out of CD-RW's! By that time, however it was after 2 am and I was exhausted so it had to wait until the morning!

*I know how horrible this is; but the wedding day itself will have to wait until I get some pictures from the photographer! It's another whole long blog in itself! LOL. Needless to say, by the end of the day, when we all finally got home, the kids went to sleep at 6:30, and I fell asleep in a chair about an hour later!*

On Sunday, we decided to take the day to ourselves, to just rest and recuperate as a family.

We went and visited a little while at Josh's grandmothers house to see Jamie and Nick off.

This is Josh and Jude and Gracelyn, who's Nick and Jamie's baby. Jude and Gracelyn share a birthday, only one year apart! Isn't that neat?

We set out on our own after they left, and drove around our favorite back roads...

We ate lots and lots of ice cream!

And played at the park until it was almost dark!

We capped the day off with a trip to the drive-in movies and chuck wagon sandwiches (YUMMY!)

So, now do you see why it felt strange to wake up this morning without a single thing that I had to do? LOL

I'm Sad and Here's Why.

2010-04-14T15:27:00.000-07:00

We started out this morning by going to the County Clerk's office to get a tag for our new (to us) van. However, they raised taxes and wanted $200 and Josh had only given me $100... so it was pretty much a wasted trip.

Then we went by Bj's house to visit with her for a few minutes. We caught her just getting out of the shower. :)

Then the kids jumped up to play with Kelley's exer-saucer... they had a blast and Kelley thought they were crazy!

Jude discovered he had pockets!

Then we went outside and the kids decided to climb a tree!

And Harmony brought me flowers.

Then we went to Nana's and Grandpa's and took a walk in the field.

Then we went to Wal-Mart... and the van died in the parking lot. Seriously.

So we decided while we waited on Josh, we decided to get Forrest a hair cut for BJ's wedding.

I laughed was laughing so hard because he was totally engrossed in watching himself in the mirror!

But at least he looks like a little boy and not a feral child.

So, since the van was broken down, Pa and Dale (my step-dad) came out and gave us a ride home and the children occupied themselves jumping on the trampoline while we waited for Josh to get back with the van.

And this is what I'm watching right now... and that's why I'm sad. :(

My Very Busy Weekend

2010-04-12T15:34:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to post a blog the last couple of days but I've not had time. I'm not sure that I have time right now, but I'm so tired that if I don't do it while I am thinking about it, I won't get it done!

So, Friday, we spent most of the day playing on the trampoline! The kids love it so much that they will stay on there for hours on end, so l just decided to climb on up with them and get some pictures!

And I discovered my pink honeysuckles are already blooming! I know that I should probably pinch the flowers, but I just can't make myself!

On Saturday, I went to BJ's bachelorette party. That's BJ, Danny, and me! LOL-yes my big brother went to a bachelorette party!! :) We went out to a local grill/restaurant/ bar/ grill/ karaoke club (It's a small town! LOL) and spent most of the night picking on BJ and playing pool.

Sunday, we spent at home since I've been gone so much doing wedding stuff and Josh is working the extra jobs. In the afternoon, I went grocery shopping, and although I came home starting to feel sick, I had the bestest helper in the whole world to help put up groceries! He was so funny, he just put EVERYTHING in the fridge in neat little stacks, and he got mad at me when I wouldn't let him put my hair products in there too!

Then, unfortuantly, i spent last night awake and sick on my stomach. I finally managed to doze off around 4:30 this morning and then woke up when Josh moved me to the couch so the kids would wake me up when they woke up... which was only about 20 minutes later... so I've had no energy at all today, although my stomach is much better this afternoon.

Then, today I felt yucky... I picked up a virus somewhere or something :(. But since my darling is home, he's been taking the brunt off of me, and I decided to make him a special treat I've been planning! Don't they look yummy? (They're crawfish for those of you who don't know!) They are simmering on the stove with a very special blend of spices and I'm making spinach and cheese tortellini to go with them. :)

Well, now you're all caught up! :)

Waiting

2010-04-08T05:58:00.000-07:00

Say not ye,
There are four months, and then cometh the harvest?
behold, I say unto you,
Lift up your eyes and look on the fields;
for they are white already to harvest.

John 4:35

So much of our lives we are told to wait; wait for supper, wait for the weekend, wait until tomorrow, wait until later. It seems we virtually spend out lives waiting for something that truly never gets here.

I had a conversation a few days ago that really got me thinking... well, you'll see.

I was with a dear friend of mine and we were discussing how unprepared she feels that her teenage step-daughter is for life as an adult, or even life as a high-school student. My friend pointed out that people spend their entire lives preparing (and waiting) for the next stage of life:

When you are an infant, you are preparing to be a toddler.

When you are a toddler, you are preparing to be a child.

When you are a child, you are preparing to be a teenager.

When you are an teenager, you are preparing for college.

When you're in college, you are preparing to be an adult.

When you're an adult, you are preparing to be a parent.

When you are a parent, you are preparing to be a grandparent.

When you are a grandparent, you are preparing to leave this world.

It's true, isn't it?

As a homeschooling mom who sees her children through each stage of life, I feel it every day. I am constantly preparing, I am constantly waiting for the next event, the next bedtime, the next morning, the next meal, the next day, the next week, the next year and the here and now gets lost in the mix.

It's sad. In all my waiting, I forget one very important thing:

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and all these things shall be added to you.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will worry about its own things.
Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Matthew 6:33-34

We cannot spend our entire lives waiting on the next thing. Should we be prepared? Absolutely. Should we be so over-prepared that whatever eventuality happens we can cover? Maybe, or maybe not. Should so much of our energy go into preparing for tomorrow (or the day after, or the day after that, or the day after that) that we don't have time for what's happening today? Absolutely not!

There must be the time that we stop preparing, that we stop waiting for what is about to happen and focus our energy on what is happening, here, right now. We have to take the time to not rush our babies into children or our children into adults because our time at each stage of life goes by so quickly.

Yesterday, I told my husband's grandmother I could never envision Harmony big enough to wear a size 2t clothes and today she's far beyond that. Just like that snap my baby is a child.

Last night, I spent awake cuddling my sweet, milky Jude all night and today, he's stubbornly insisting he's too big for diapers and crawling onto the potty himself, against the protests of his clueless mommy that he's just a baby still- he has plenty of time before he has to potty train later.

I don't want to wake up tomorrow and have grandchildren at my feet. I know that I will, all parents do. But at least for today I can be here, I can love this moment, I can live in the now and stop waiting for what I've already prepared for.

2010-04-07T09:51:00.000-07:00

I think Lynette enjoyed hiding this weeks Simplifying for Sanity! lol. I, of course, have a post, mainly because I realized while talking to my BJ yesterday that I love to clean and I love to blog and I love to share pictures! So this is just three of my favorite things put together! LOL.

So this weeks official area is a utility or storage room. I don't have a utility room (my washer and dryer are in an alcove off the hallway) and I am not even daring to work on our storage room yet, it's way scary there's so much stuff that needs to be sold from our down-grade from a 2500 sq ft house when we bought this property (which the house is only pushing 1800sq ft), but the bathroom I can do. And since I've spent the last couple of days helping BJ wrap up things for her wedding, my poor bathroom has been neglected!

Ok, so here are the before pictures: (Which I am almost comfortable with showing you because it doesn't usually look like this and because it doesn't look like this now!)

There was even stuff in the bathtub!

The dirty clothes were piled beside the sink:

The sink was a mess:

And we won't even talk about the toilet!

BUT (drum roll please!) here I came to save the day!

Now my bathroom is pretty again!

My sink is pretty and clean and sparkles again!

The shower curtain is back up (lol) and the tub is cleaned out:

Apparently I didn't take another picture of the toliet, but you can at least see that the soda can is gone! I promise it's clean!! LOL

And I also want to update you on my first Simplifing project: My bedroom!

I got a new bedset that matches the walls a bit better: (and no nit-picking about the bare bulb- I knew i forgot something at the store yesterday!LOL)

I also got a couple of pretty candle holders and finally put up the pictures I've been wanting to:

So, that's my Simplify for Sanity for this week!

Easter 2010

2010-04-05T08:39:00.000-07:00

We spent yesterday morning with Josh's family (but I didn't get any pictures... I might update this blog when I get some! But we went to my mom's house in the afternoon and had a blast! I promised that I would make a 'highlight reel' for some of our family and I decided to share it with you guys too! Hope you enjoy it! The camera is out of focus sometimes because it was set on auto-focus but you can still get a good idea of what was going on! Enjoy! Oh, and the background song was my DH's idea :)

A Song for Today :)

2010-04-01T14:48:00.000-07:00

I had to share this, it's been running through my head all day long!

All Consuming Fire

I sit here and question why my God loves me
Though I have never done a good thing
Or a righteous deed
And though I'm rich, I claim that I'm poor
Crying over earthly things I know I can't afford but
He who died is greater than these
I should be thankful, praying on my knees
Crying

Alpha and Omega
Prince of Peace
O, my king of Kings
The Great I Am, Jehovah Jireh
Who cares for me
The Holy One, the Holy Father of the Blessed Trinity
All Consuming Fire burn in me

Now I never claimed to be anymore than I am
Anymore than I seem
In fact I bill myself so much less than I am
So much less than He sees
So may I hold out with an open hand
This frail life of mine and pray that You can make it stand
Most Holy God it's all I need to say that I'm thankful
I can believe in the

Alpha and Omega
Prince of Peace
O, my king of Kings
The Great I Am, Jehovah Jireh
Who cares for me
The Holy One, the Holy Father of the Blessed Trinity
All Consuming Fire burn in me

~Jennifer Knapp

My Horrible, Hidden Disaster Area!

2010-03-29T13:54:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know. Eventually, I will get back to regular posts. I think my life will slow down... eventually! But now, onward to the Simplifying!

*I'm beginning to wonder about this process. It's very humbling, I think, because if you were to come to visit me, you probably wouldn't see any of these areas that I am broadcasting to all of you on here. But as I go through more and more, I think that it's a good thing to get all of those areas out of the way, so to speak. If I know about the worst, and I know they are the worst and not the norm, then maybe it's easier to be honest with myself that even though there are cluttered areas, I'm not the world's worst mom because I have a couple closets that are filled up or because I get behind on laundry, ya know? Besides the fact that it's making projects that I dread more fun because I get to show off the results, and therefore, they aren't the worst anymore!*

This week I did my linen/storage closet. It really had WAY too many things going on in there! And it's not finished on the inside (with Sheetrock, ya know?) so it's not pretty and it's just so darn convenient to toss stuff into because it's right by the washer and dryer, and right off the way to the main bathroom, and *sigh* it was awful!

Yeah. It was BAD. When I told Josh that I intended to do the closet for this weeks Simplifying for Sanity, he laughed at me. Not just a "hahaha" kind of laugh but a rolling around, holding his gut kind of laugh! "Good Luck!!" he told me.

Good Luck, indeed! I'd need it! LOL!

So first, I took every single thing out of the closet and rushed about for about 15 minutes putting it all away or out in the trash can.

Then, GUESS WHAT! I found the floor! And it was GROSS! It had this yucky red carpet in there (I couldn't have told you this morning exactly WHAT color the carpet was, but trust me... it was RED!) So, since I am just so handy I decided to use some of the flooring scraps that we had to put a new floor in there! I really do think that this closet should be completely trimmed and finished, but that's a project for another day! And even though the flooring it's meeting is cherry wood and the closet is pine, I think that it looks MUCH MUCH better!

Of course, the inside walls are still not finished, but I think I did a pretty good job all by myself! AND I only had to call my darling husband once, and that was only because I'd been fighting to get the wood back together and the entire thing popped up at me! He's such a sweetie, and came and stood on it while he laughed at me and gave me directions to secure it to the floor :)

Then, I had to decide what I wanted to put back in there!

I didn't have any where else to store the paint cans, so in they went!

Then I stored all of my paper products and things I need to grab a million times a day (like the febreze, air freshener and windex on a shelf I installed, hopefully, right about the kid's reach (as long as they don't stand on a chair anyway!

I hung up some nails to keep my cleaning stuff off the floor:

And I stashed the carpet cleaners and vaccuum in there as well (but my batteries had died at the point! Sorry!)

But it's all pretty now, and at least LOOKS organized and not like a tornado hit it or something.

I also found some neat little treasures hidden back in there!

I hadn't seen these shoes in months! Now I know why!

And isn't it adorable?! I have absolutely NO idea where I am going to put it, but I'll find somewhere!

And there you have it!

Show Us Your Life: Cleaning Tips!!

2010-03-27T19:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know I am a bad, bad blogger here lately (what with all my computer time being spent wrapping up details for the ABSOLUTELY AWESOME YOU MUST CHECK IT OUT Give-away and Raffle over at At the Well:In Pursuit of Titus 2) But while I do have a few minutes this evening, I thought I would do a Show Us Your Life post seeing how much I do love blog parties... even though I am late with it!

This week, everyone is sharing their cleaning tips.

How FUN! LOL.

Contrary to what you may believe from the past Monday's post about cleaning my horrific bedroom, the main parts of my home are usually clean.

What?!?

No, seriously!

Stop laughing, I mean it!!

I'll even prove it to you! I'm gonna go take some pictures!

Ok. Besides the glare from the light (Sorry! I had to climb onto a chair to take a picture of the whole thing!) that is honestly what my kitchen looks like right this minute!

And part of the living room. (My husband politely -lol, not really- requested not to be in the picture, so I pointed the camera at the kids as he dodged out of the picture!) Yeah, sure there is a laundry basket sitting by my chair, but see how neat and clean the floor is?

BUT this blog isn't about proving to you that I do clean, but telling you a few of my tips for cleaning! So here they are:

TIP #1: Lots and Lots of Coffee!
(OK, Ok, I'm just kidding! Sheesh! Don't be so serious!)

TIP #2: Always, ALWAYS wear good lace-up shoes!

The FlyLady says this is one of her most important rules, and when I worked as an at-home customer service Rep, and when I worked as a Mary Kay consultant, both companies STRESSED always getting dressed to your shoes. It puts your mind in the right frame to get up and MOVE! You're ready for anything, anytime, and you're comfortable while you do it! (And YES, I was, and still am wearing my lace-up shoes and my pajamas at the same time! I put them on when I before my feet hit the floor in the morning and don't take them off until my head is hitting the pillow at night, except to bathe of course! Oh, and yeah, my socks don't match:P)

TIP #3: My Control Journal.

Now what does this have to do with cleaning? EVERYTHING! I write down anything I see that needs to be cleaned, so I don't have to think about it. Then when I'm cleaning, I just turn to my "Cleaning" tab and work my way down the list! It keeps me focused and it also keeps me from getting distracted and wasting time on things that didn't have to be done! There are several websites that teach you how to build your very own control journal, but of course, I recommend The Flylady's!

TIP #4: Good Music and Good Audio-books.
Music has a magical way of getting your blood pumping! When you are listening to your favorite song, it's hard to sit in your chair and waste time; you want to get up and dance! So I get up and dance while I clean! I keep a variety of good audio-books and programs on there so I can listen while I work on the more tedious jobs!

TIP #5: Good, All Purpose Cleaners.
When I walk into the kitchen in the morning to get my first cup of coffee, I grab my spray bottle of Lysol 4-in-1 cleaner and a roll of paper towels and carry them with me pretty much where I go. I also have polish for the wood, Windex, and Dawn detergent. And that's it. That's all I buy! And they keep my house shiny, cut through the toughest stickiness the kids can deposit and none of them have really over-whelming smells that make me sick or aggravate the kids sensitive sinuses!

TIP #5: Get ya a good feather duster.
Whether you realize it or not, dust makes a house look, feel, smell, and seem dirty, even if it's really not! I use mine like ALL the time. I mean, come on! It's just fun! LOL. And it really doesn't take that long. I can dust all of our pictures and surfaces in the house in less than 10 minutes if I hurry!

TIP #6: Keep the shiny things clean!
I mean, the mirrors, the sinks, the faucets, the windows. When something is SHINY and the light's reflecting off of it, it helps make a room look clean, even if it's not perfectly clean! (Trust me on this one!) I keep one of these microfiber gloves in each bathroom and the kitchen because they are FANTASTIC for doing a quick swipe without any cleaner at all.

TIP #7: Make sure the essentials are handy!
(And no laughing about my Santa canister in my bathroom!) This, ah-hem, canister holds my microfiber cloth, Clorox wipes and my sink brush. The trash bags (this was in the bathroom) are right within arm's reach (we don't have a single cabinet in the bathroom to hide them in!) but not obtrusively so and the shampoo is the extra stuff that I don't use, therefore it gets delegated to a cleaning product!

TIP #8: Keep your toilet clean- ALL THE TIME!
It is SO gross going to a public restroom where there are streaks and stains and who know what else all around the toilet bowl, and I don't know about you- but I won't use them if they are yucky like that! So why should OUR toilets be any different?!? I don't even have a regular toliet brush anymore because I don't need it. I have this glass sponge that I keep in a vase that has that old, unused shampoo in it, and I swish the toilet several times a day. It keeps it clean and white (although I am sparing you the picture, but I can prove it if I have to!!) and since toliet bowl cleaners are nasty, stinky, poisonous things (which I won't keep in the house) and can only be used with caution, this is an awesome alternative, because I can swish the entire inside and outside of the toilet if need be! I change the water and soap once a day, and also I do disinfect the toilet in the mornings with 4-in-1 because I have little boys who aren't very good at aiming!

So that's that for now! I hope you can get something of use out of them, although I must reiterate that I am BY NO MEANS! an expert! LOL

I Done Did It!

2010-03-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

OH! I'm so excited! I love me some blogging parties! I've been eagerly awaiting today's Simplifing for Sanity from Lynette's blog.

So, this week I decided to do my bedroom. I won't even horrify you with before pictures (because I wouldn't make myself take them!) but I will give you a bit of a description:

BEFORE: My bedroom was covered, and I do mean covered!, with laundry and whatever else the children happened to drop in there. You couldn't walk on the floor it was so full of clean laundry in baskets, dirty laundry in baskets, toys and other miscellany on the floor. It was pretty dern rough.

I mean, I want my bedroom to be sweet and calming, but at the same time, it's on the opposite end of the house from the living space and the children's bedrooms, no one is supposed to go in there except me and Josh so in theory it shouldn't get dirty. BUT what happened was that if I was rushed and didn't have time to fold and put away laundry then I just threw it on the bed. No big deal, right? Because I have to clean it up before I can go to sleep. Well... let me tell you something, Missus! It NEVER gets done like you plan it! In the rush of the day, I couldn't always leave the children unsupervised long enough to get a handle on it, and there's certainly not room in there for all of the monkeys being monkeys AND a monkey mommy cleaning, so it was just easier to hide it and pretend it wasn't there until I crawled into bed with the lights off, too exhausted to worry with it.

SO I decided that I was going to create a CALMING environment. NOTHING would exist in my bedroom unless it had a specific purpose for being there and a specific place to go. It took me about 3 hours to completely scrub everything and get it sparkling, but I DID IT! And now, I'm going to walk you through my NEW, Simplified, Master Bedroom. :)

Now, My bedroom is roughly 14x14 and is actually the second smallest bedroom in the house, which also holds the house's largest bed (go figure, right?). BUT we chose it because it is so isolated from the rest of the noise and light. We don't even have any windows in our room because of how it's tucked in there!

Let the tour begin!

This is the view from my bedroom door.
The walls are actually BRIGHT SKY BLUE, which my new, relatively cheap, camera doesn't seem to like taking pictures of in true color.

The Hubby's Nightstand.
(The table cloth is actually brown, but again, the camera didn't pick it up :( ) Notice the entire lack of anything besides the phone charger and a lamp! No books, no soda cans or water bottles...NADA!

The bed all made up and my pretty painting.
Our bed is pale pink and dark blue. (LOL) All of the stuff has a gingham/floral pattern on one side and stripes on the other. The painting was actually found by my husband in a home he was remodeling. I love it!

My night cabinet.
I keep so many books and other things that I think I just have to have right by my bed, that I decided I couldn't really keep a bedside table clean, so I just moved this freestanding cabinet to use instead!

A slightly different perspective.
I absolutely HAD to have flowers somewhere in the room, so I bought this bunch of faux peonies for $3.00 at wal mart. The vase I had, and I mixed in some rose scented potpourri and apple scented pine-cones to hide the flower stems. (They actually smell really yummy together!) The mirror I had shoved into a closet and the candles are cranberry vanilla, with a vanilla reed diffuser. :) Believe it or not, the smell is seriously yummy!

The Dresser.
The candlesticks I found on sale at Fred's for $4.00! I want to get some nice pictures of me and Josh and put them between the candles, as well as some shorter candle sticks for the votive candles. One good thing about having a small room though- any angle you look into the mirror you can see the flowers on the cabinet!

The Chest of Drawers.
I have to admit, I was out of inspiration when it came to the chest of drawers. I wanted to keep this crystal punch bowl in my room (I'd be terrified it would get broken in any other room!) but I didn't know what to do with it. Truth to tell I still don't! (And I noticed that the candle was leaning after I uploaded the pictures but this is the best picture I got of it!)

But!
I love how it sparkles with the candle-light!

You see,
What I did: I took some taper candles (cranberry vanilla!) and two of the punch cups and some leftover rose potpourri and shoved it all together. This is what I got!

AND
The piece with the most history and meaning in the entire room to me! This painting was done by a dear friend of mine (Charlie Litherland) for my sister-in-law. She hung it over her mantle for years and when I lived with them it was a constant in the house. When Harmony was born, that was all she would look at while we were at her house. So, my ex-sister-in-law graciously offered to give the painting to us since Harmony was obviously delighted by it. It's hung in every single home Josh and I have shared since Harmony was 2 months old, been all around the country and through some crazy adventures with us! It hangs on 'my' wall so it's usually the first thing I see each morning when I roll out of bed!

So there you have it! I'm pretty proud of what I've accomplished!

Days Like Today

2010-03-16T15:52:00.000-07:00

Therefore, having been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand,
and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

And not only that,
but we also glory in tribulations,
knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;
and perseverance, character;
and character, hope.

Now hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts
by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
For when we were still without strength,
in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Romans 5: 1- 6

I have been feeling very downtrodden the last few days.

The children try me at every opportunity, my husband's taken to working extra jobs in the evening to ease the financial burdens we had unexpectedly placed on us, I am 'officially' out of kindergarten curriculum for Harmony and am having to "make-up" some to keep her occupied until our unexpected bills are paid and we can afford to buy the next levels (not that she minds, and she is still learning things, but it takes a lot of extra time on my part), the wedding is looming ever closer and my duties for it are getting more time-consuming, Harmony's graduation is coming up, and my plants are starting to droop in their now too-small containers (thanks to the gloomy, cold weather).

Then, although I am already busy, other things keep coming. My step-father is going to have to have both a vascular bypass and a gastro bypass in the next several months, the school needs someone to design a set and background for Harmony's graduation. The neighbor's dogs get into my trash-cans and it starts pouring rain so the trash is not only stinky, but wet, moldy, and stinky. An over-whelmed friend stops by for a hug and another friend to help relieve their stress over their baby, and another for some fresh coffee and encouraging words.

The boys get sick and I'm up with them all night until i have to get up before the crack of dawn with other children with nightmares, I start showing signs of sleep deprivation and my outlook suddenly darkens. Then the cats all forget where the litter box is and decide to go on the new carpet right before your in-laws show up! Or the phone rings with a call I really need to take right as the baby runs head first into the table.

Do you ever feel like that? Like there's a million and five things for you to do and all you want is an afternoon where all the children fall asleep without an argument, a great show on the History channel, a fresh pot of coffee, a gooey chocolate cookie and sunshine?

*sigh*

I used to think that being a Christian meant either one of two things: either you were a 'real' Christian and cheerful and giving all the time, or a 'fake' Christian and grumpy like the regular people. There was no in between.

However, the farther I get along my walk, the more I realize that a good attitude when things are annoying, over-whelming, or at their worst is not some magic thing that happens suddenly when you become a Christian; it's very hard work!

"These things I have spoken to you,
that in Me you may have peace.
In the world you will have tribulation;
but be of good cheer,
I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33

Oh, if only there was a big red button that said "Perkiness" or "Cheerfulness" and all we had to do was press it to improve our mood! The world would be full of people in good moods, who always smiled understandingly and volunteered themselves to help you with even trivial things!

If only the children always behaved, and the bank account was always full!

If only I didn't have so much to do, or if only the day was 36 hours long and there were 10 of them in a week!

"If only," as my mom says, "a frog had wings, it's butt wouldn't hit the ground so hard."

So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.
Romans 12:1-3, 11-13 (The Message)

Fortunately, I don't think God intends for our lives to be easy. I don't think things are going to go the way you want them to, regardless of how much you plan, or how hard you pray.

You ever see a child trying to take a portrait, you know the one I mean. The one who is over-tired, over-stressed, and although the rest of his family is going about their business happy as clams because of Mom's thorough planning, this one child has just had more than he can take. Somethings not going right for him, and he's too immature and doesn't know how to express his frustrations so he does the one thing he does know: Cry. (He's just a baby, after all!)

That's how I feel sometimes. I want to sit in a little corner and cry, maybe throw a few things and kick the wall a couple of times. But I can't because I know that I am a Wife and a Mom, a Friend and a Sister, a Daughter and a Grand-Daughter. I know that I don't have the luxury of exhibiting that level of immaturity, regardless of the moments that the feeling hits me.

Nevertheless we, according to His promise,
look for new heavens and a new earth
in which righteousness dwells.

Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things,
be diligent to be found by Him in peace,
without spot and blameless;
and consider that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation
but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
2 Peter 3:13-18

Our day-to-day trivial matters are not to be seen as a frustration, or something to crack our wills like a rock on a windshield. No, they are gifts from God. The gift, if we choose to be steadfast in our belief and love, of perseverance.

And when we persevere, we develop character, and with character comes hope: our hope in our salvation and the omnipotence of God.

We must look at our tribulations as an assurance of the presence of hope. And when we hope, we can make it through the hardest days with a smile on our faces, because "we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."

Even annoying things.

Even painful things.

Even troublesome things.

Even awesome things.

And that's where a Christian's smile comes from in the midst of trouble. That's where I'll look for my smile on days like today.

Save us, O LORD our God,
and gather us from the nations,
that we may give thanks to your holy name
and glory in your praise.

Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Let all the people say, "Amen!"
Praise the LORD.

Psalm 106:47-48

Amen.

Gardening Fever

2010-03-13T07:30:00.000-08:00

For lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of singing has come,
And the voice of the turtledove
Is heard in our land.
Song of Solomon 2:12

Ok, I know the rain is not over and gone! As my cousin, Micheal, says, "I would much rather suffer through rain while March is coming in like a lion then to suffer through April being cold and damp!" And it is definitely coming in like a lion, March that is... It's been raining and storming for the past week straight!

That doesn't do anything to help me with the fact that my kitchen table has been over-taken by all my cool weather seedlings waiting to get out in the ground, or help the fact that my mother-in-law was kind enough to buy me two pink honeysuckle vine cuttings that are sitting amongst the veggies and sprouting leaves while they wait for the frost to past and get out into the garden. Nor does it help the fact that the trees are budding and I have gardening fever and can't get out of the house through the downpour!

That picture was taken last summer when we got the swing-set, but the purpose is to show you the HUGE embankment left when the previous owners cleared land for the house... and they did no kind of improvement or planning for the eventuality of erosion. Last year, we were more concerned with getting the interior of the house live-able so my answer to erosion was planting grass plugs on the hill. It worked well, for a time, but grass here isn't evergreen, so the winter months have been hard on the embankment. Since we are to the point where everything else inside is basically cosmetic, this year, I can worry about the outside more!

But I have a master plan, see. (lol) I have those two pink honeysuckles, which is just about the only native southern plant I've not found growing on our property, which I plan to plant at the base of the tree roots that are exposed so they can find some grip on the slick embankment. I want to train them into a background for our patio (area- it's not finished yet! lol). I absolutely adore the smell of honeysuckle; I grew up in south Georgia where honeysuckle grows so proficiently that it's considered a weed but it smells like home to me!)

I have over 500 Morning Glory seeds in Pink, Purple, and Blue (also gifts from my mother in law, who is so in love with Morning Glories and Passion Fruit Vines that her online name is Passiflora!) which I plan to scatter around for quick cover. They sprout in less than a week, grow quickly, and are annuals are here.

Then, I am going to scatter my 1000+ Creeping Thyme seeds amongst the Morning Glories. They take longer to germinate, and are evergreen perennials so by the time the Morning Glories are fading away, they will be just to the size to bloom and take over. :) Hopefully, by next year, the Thyme will be reaching it's full spread and I won't have to worry about anything but filler plants for where the seeds missed ! AND I should have made some attractive, natural steps to preventing the road from washing into my front yard! Not to mention that my yard should start smelling fantastic!

I've spent some time recently scoping out eBay for flower seeds as well. Vegetable and herb seeds are cheap enough for me to buy full price, but the flower I love get a little bit expensive!

I bought some rainbow colors of Holly hocks, which I am going to plant along the front of the house instead of the traditional shrubbery, and intermix with scabiousas and canary bird zinnias.

I'm extending our stone walkway another 60 feet and putting up a fence to contain the people parking in my yard. (The yard has a LOT of rocks in it, and people tend to not realize where the driveway ends, and where they should park their cars!). I am going to put up a trellis and grow wild wisteria up both sides of it. :) Obviously this isn't just a stock photo of a plant, but this is kind of my long term goal :)

Then all along the fence line, I want to plant Sweet Williams and Plains Coreposis. I love how they tend to have the same patterning in different shapes!

Then I want to mix hostas, astilbes, and lavender phloxes down the walkway that will seg-way into my cosmos and black-eyed susans around the porch.

All in all, I know that it's very ambitious, but it never hurts to plan! I have all the required seeds/seedlings, I just have to be able to get them in the ground! LOL

Just for Fun!

2010-03-07T10:02:00.000-08:00

I was reading one of my darling friend's blog, Sarah Ruth Today and saw a post she did about 99 things. The post is a list of 99 things you could have done, and you are supposed to highlight the ones that you yourself have done. While reading this I saw a lot of fun things that I have done, but also so many things that I HAVEN’T done!

So here goes! The Pink are things I have done, And the Blue are things I haven't!

1. Started your own blog – but of course!

2. Slept under the stars – I have, Sarah, and it IS beautiful!
3. Played in a band (Bass, ba-bass, ba-bass,bass, bass...LOL)
4. Visited Hawaii- I would LOVE to!
5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to DisneyWorld

8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis – Does NOT on purpose count?
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors- (At least the Native American ones!)

35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing – This is me your asking- LOL- I LOVE IT!
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight- in Mexico's Luna Madre... the most beautiful beach I've ever seen!!
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching- Yes, but not on an 'official whale watching ship!' They just swam near our boat and we watched them as long as we could!! LOL
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving (Does cliff diving count?!? I've done that! LOL)
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter-(and I was SO scared!)
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo
94. Had a baby (LOL, surely not me!)

95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee (Many times- almost my entire yard is a garden! Although I am seriously allergic to them! I keep my hydro-cortisone on tap just in case!)

A Day In the Life of ME!

2010-03-05T12:00:00.000-08:00

My day starts with the sound of cathedral bells at 4:30 am. (Yeah, OK, I know I live out in the middle of the boonies, but I have this great alarm clock that I found that has all these different, peaceful, sounds to wake up to and go to sleep to... I just love it!) This is the ONLY time of the day that it's quiet and peaceful around here, so I get to lounge around in my nice fuzzy robe and slippers, drink some coffee, and have some private devotion time. (Which is usually where my 'Morning Musings' or my 'Thoughts About God' come from!)

Josh usually leaves around 6:15 or 6:30 for work and I have the house to myself for a couple of hours after I see him off. :)

Then I will check my email and Facebook, and do any work online that needs to be done. I will make my daily checklist, and start a load of laundry, and get myself presentable.

Before the kids get up at 8:00, and with whatever time is left before then, I do the rest of my morning routine, and try to clean up any mess that's left over from the night before. Then I start breakfast, and drink another cup o' Joe while it's hot.

Then the kids get up and I help them get dressed and do their hair and teeth, and we make beds and do morning chores (the kids feed the animals, fold and put away laundry, and clean their bedrooms). We sit down to eat breakfast while I read the children's daily bible study to them.

We sit down in our circle and do our Bible Lessons, phonics, science, and counting games (all of which include the little guys) and then I put the three youngest children in the play yard and we move to the office where we do English, Math, and Latin.

We usually get finished 30-45 minutes before lunch time, so the children go outside and play after we pick up our mess and I do another load of laundry, and whatever house or yard work needs to be done.

We eat lunch at 12:30, and the three little ones go off for their nap after we finish at about 1:00-1:15. The three older children and I clean up lunch, and then Harmony goes off to work on her typing and Spanish while I work with the older twins. Forrest and Regan are off for their naps at 2:30 and Harmony and I work on history and journal and do whatever else she needs or wants to focus on. Harmony goes to her room for nap/quiet time at 3:30 and I clean some more... and make another pot of coffee.

Once the house is cleaned, I put supper in the oven, and spray Febreze and light some candles all over the house so it smells nice and pretty when Josh gets home from work. Then I usually sit down to rest, read, and drink my coffee until Josh gets home.

After Josh gets here, I finish up supper, and we spend about 30 minutes catching each other up on our days. Then the children get up out of bed, wash up for supper and we eat about 5:30.

After supper is chores (washing and putting away dishes, swiffering the floor, taking out the trash, and finishing up laundry). The children spend a little while catching up with Daddy and then the kids start taking their baths around 6:30 or 7:00 and put on their pj's, brush their teeth and hair, and are ready for bed about 7:30 or 8:00.

Jude goes to bed at 8:00, and we gather in the living room for some more family time while the children are sent to bed. The 2 year old twins go to bed at 8:30, and usually Forrest is shortly after them, about 8:45 or 9:00, while the girls stay up until 9:30 or 10:00.

Once the girls are all tucked in and snoozing away, I do a final run through the house, picking up ankle breakers, dirty clothes, and books left laying about. I straighten up the sofa and chairs and lay out breakfast, and do whatever else needs doing that I have time for. I lay out school work and clothing for the next day, and finally get a bath and into my pjs around 11:30.

AND, unfortunately, I am an insomniac so when I get to bed I usually end up reading or watching TV instead of sleeping (although I try!). I am usually asleep by about 1:00 am, though until the alarm wakes me up to do it all again!

(Oh, and a side note: this almost completely changes if we have to go somewhere that day! LOL)

My Favorite Advice

2010-03-01T17:00:00.000-08:00

Before I got married I had six theories about bringing up children;
now I have six children, and no theories.
~John Wilmot

These are some of my favorite, albeit most of them are very silly!, pieces of parenting advice. Tis some of the best advice I've ever heard! LOL

Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell the name will carry.
Bill Cosby

Everybody knows how to raise children, except the people who have them.
P. J. O'Rourke

"Like all parents, my husband and I just do the best we can,
and hold our breath,
and hope we've set aside enough money to pay for our kids' therapy."
~ Michelle Pfeiffer

"Few things are more satisfying than seeing your own children have teenagers of their own." ~ ~Doug Larson.

"The quickest way for a parent to get a child's attention is to sit down and look comfortable." ~ Lane Olinhouse

"The reason grandchildren and grandparents get along so well is
because they have a common enemy."
~ Author Unknown

"If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?"
~ Milton Berle

"When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice safe playpen.
When they're finished, I climb out."
~ Erma Bombeck

"A three year old child is a being who gets almost as much fun out of a fifty-six dollar set of swings as it does out of finding a small green worm."
~ Bill Vaughan.

Parenthood:
That state of being better chaperoned than you were before marriage.
~Marcelene Cox

And my personal favorite:

Be sure and dress your children cute;
you're less likely to kill them that way.
~Author Unknown

What a Lovely Morning!

2010-03-01T04:52:00.000-08:00

Sing praises to God,
Sing Praises:
Sing praises unto our King;
Sing Praises.

For God is the King of all the earth:
Sing ye praises with understanding.
Psalm 47:6 & 7

I know that I have a million and five things to get accomplished today but I am having a hard time believing that it is almost 7am and my children are still asleep, my coffee is still hot, and I am dressed in my favorite snuggly sweater and khaki skirt... and they are CLEAN and it all smells so good!

My bathroom is scrubbed and sparkly, my sink is shiny, and the sun is barely peaking out from behind the clouds.

My cardinals are chirping, the cats are all purring, and the first of the more hardy spring vines are throwing splashes of green into the dreary woods outside my windows.

For ye shall go out with joy,
and be led forth with peace:
the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you with singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Isaiah 55 : 12

It's mornings like this that make me happiest. Despite the overcast skies and nippy temperatures, I can feel and see the promise of warmth, sunshine, green grass, and many happy days of summer. I can almost feel the praises of God being sung from under my very feet and being lifted up with the mist all around me; the land thanking Him for His mercy throughout another harsh winter.

And so, although I know that eventually the day to day rush will catch up with me, I wanted to spend a few moments and join in the worship. I wanted to share with you this perfect moment of peace that's filling me up, and recharging me for the day at hand.

God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore will not we fear,
though the earth be removed,
and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.

God is in the midst of her;
she shall not be moved:
God shall help her,
and that right early.

Come, behold the works of the Lord,
what desolation he hath made in the earth.
He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth;
he breaketh the bow,
and cutteth the spear in sunder:

Be still and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the heathen,
I will be exalted in the earth.

The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Selah.

Psalm 46: 1-2, 5, 7-11

I hope your morning has been even half as lovely and wonderful as mine!

A Truce! Finally!

2010-02-27T15:52:00.000-08:00

While I sit here at the computer I am listening to the sweetest music: my washing machine whirring away right outside my office door! And the dryer humming in tune. Sweet, sweet music! I just want to sing along!

It'd gotten bad. Not just bad, but BAD. Like (since the boys are camping out in the girls room while we replace the flooring in their room and their room is next to the laundry area) we had so much dirty laundry in there that the entire floor was covered with baskets upon baskets full of stinky clothes, muddy socks, and blankets that had accidents on them. B.A.D. Bad.

Since our washer is so old and decrepit, none of the stores had the piece that we needed to fix it in stock, so we were (not-so) patiently waiting for them to order it and recieve it to get our laundry system up and running... but we were basically at the end of our rope!

I went searching through the piles upon piles of dirty clothing in the master bedroom last night, searching for a specific shirt to be able to wash by hand and wear to Nashville today, and guess what I found? The piece that we needed to fix the washer!

Right there! We had it all along! How frustrating!

Actually, it's not. I am just thrilled to have it up and running now! And although it's completely against my cleaning philosophy, I am on my fourth load of clothes for the day (and would be on a later number, but for the trip to David's Bridal this morning!) and I fully intend on staying up until I can't keep my eyes open washing and drying clothes!

YEA! I'm so happy! I get to get my house REALLY cleaned tonight! Whoo-Hoo!

My Three Most Baked

2010-02-22T10:46:00.000-08:00

I admit it! I am a serial baker. I am addicted. I LOVE baking. And I LOVE baking from scratch! SOO... it comes up rather often when people are completely out of this or that mix that they ask me what is my recipe for some baked essentials!

Here's my favorite three!

My Quick and Yummy Biscuits:
These are on our plates almost every meal! I double or triple the recipe, so I have biscuits to freeze... then just thaw them and microwave for about 30 seconds and they are nice and soft again! As it, the recipe yields about 24 biscuits. They also taste yummy with a teaspoon of jam or jelly added to the top before baking!

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cups milk

Mix all the dry ingredients. Cut the softened butter into the flour.

Add the milk until a soft dough forms (until all the ingredients are clumped together in the bottom of the bowl in a ball shape and mixing them with a spoon is getting difficult).

Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for about 30 seconds- 1 minute.

Roll out with a rolling pin to 1/2" thick.

Spread softened butter on tops of unbaked biscuits (That's a trick that I learned at a restaurant that's famous for it's biscuits!).

Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes until golden brown, but not too dark!

Butter Cake
Butter? Cake? Yes it's true- it's so soft and moist that it literately melts in your mouth! I made this for Harmony's birthday cake and it didn't last more than 15 minutes because everyone kept coming back for more! This recipe makes about 7 1/2 cups of batter...

1 1/2 cups butter, room temperature
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
5 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon almond flavoring
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray pans with vegetable pan spray, or use Cake Release.

In mixer bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in vanilla and almond flavor. Mix flour with baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture alternately with milk, starting with the flour; mix well. Pour into prepared pans.

Refer to baking chart, for baking times and temperatures for specific pans.

Cool 10 minutes in pan. Loosen sides and remove. Cool completely before decorating.

Biscotti

Oh yeah. It's been said that I drink coffee through an IV (at times, I even think it's true! LOL) and the absolute BEST snack with coffee is biscotti! This recipe makes enough for 24-30 servings.

6 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons ground aniseed (or fennel seed- whichever you have on hand)
3/4 cup whole blanched almonds (optional)

Preheat oven to 325° F.

Whip eggs with sugar and vanilla until very light. Eggs will be nearly white.

Combine dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and ground aniseed), fold with almonds carefully into egg mixture.

Pour out onto parchment lined cookie sheet in two long strips.

Bake at 325° F for 25-30 minutes or until firm and lightly browned. Cool.

Slice into 3/4" strips with serrated knife.

Transfer back onto cookie sheet and return to oven.

Brown on both sides, 7-8 minutes per side, until dry.

Enjoy!

Magnets to Men's Eyes.

2010-02-21T21:30:00.000-08:00

Let us not therefore judge one another any more:
but judge this rather,
that no man put a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.
Romans 14:13

This afternoon was especially lovely. The weather hovered around 65 degrees and sunny. The children were all occupied playing soccer, swinging on the swing set, or jumping on the trampoline with their Daddy. I had been working since Thursday cleaning up all manner of construction debris out of the yard and was sitting down at the picnic table with my mom enjoying my relatively neat yard, contented family, and beautiful sunshine.

I've been a bit concerned about getting a 'farmer's tan' before BJ's wedding... I don't want to end up immortalized in photographs as the matron of honor with two toned arms in my bridesmaid dress, and so I was sitting in the sun in a spaghetti strap shirt. I didn't really think twice about it, except to think to put it on.

But when my mom and I decided to run to Wal-Mart, it was a completely different story. I, oblivious as always, started to gather my things to get in the car, while my husband discreetly tried to get my attention.

There I am, running about, and my sweet Josh "Ahem-ing" himself hoarse. Finally, he managed to catch my eye and give a little tug on his shirt sleeve. It took me a second, but finally I caught on and boy, I was mortified!

I was about to not only wear something out that I was bought to wear as pajamas, but I was going to go out, on the busiest day of the week in our busy little town, which also happens to be the Sabbath (see me cringe, even now?) with some rather private property on display and I hadn't given it a second thought!

Such is the way of an adulterous woman;
she eateth, and wipeth her mouth,
and saith, I have done no wickedness.
Proverbs 30:20

What damage would I have done, unwittingly... sure, but done nonetheless? I don't want to be forward here, but nursing six children has left that particular piece of property a sizable investment! And unfortunately, I would have attracted a bit of the wrong kind of attention.

In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel,
with shamefacedness and sobriety;
not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly array;
But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.
1 Timothy 2:9-10

*This is me cringing again, BTW.*

I heard a fantastic sermon again this afternoon, after I had my usual elbow-length sleeves and below the knee shorts on, entitled "Ladies, Does how you dress cause men to lust?" by a pastor names Al Martin. In it he, very candidly, discusses all manner of (mostly) unintentional ways that women fail in dressing modestly. I wanted to share his list of common stumbling blocks with you, since they've left such an impression on me; and opened my eyes to several of my own shortcomings in my own personal attempt at modesty. I don't think that I can put it in a better perspective than he, so I am going to share some of the transcript of his sermo n, straight from his own words.

These are the 10 Magnets for Men, written and seconded by men in men's language, for the women who walk amongst them and don't wish to cause another to sin:

#1- Dresses or Skirts with Lengthy Slits.
Anything above the knee causes men to think "Oh, a few more inches and what would I see?"

#2- Dresses or skirts that hug the bottom.
When you see pictures of prostitutes, one of the marks of a prostitute, she always has her
buttocks hugged, whether it is a mini skirt, whether it is jeans, whether it is tight slacks,
her butt is always hugged because that is what she is selling. And that is what she wants
men to buy.

#3- Any upper garment that hugs the bosom.
People should not receive an anatomy lesson in mammary glands when they
look at you women.

#4- Unbuttoned blouses or cleavage.
You not only unbutton here and here and here and here, but you unbutton down to one
button away from bearing your bra. And when a man sees only one button to go his mind
goes, I wonder what is under that one more button

#5- Sleeveless blouses or dresses with large armholes.
You look down on your sleeveless dress and you see nothing but your shoulder.
But if it is a large arm hole, a man sitting behind you looks up at the pulpit, sees through
to your bra. And his mind goes where he doesn’t want it to go.

#6- Low rise skirts or pants.
....flaunting their bodies in their gyrations with their so called music. They have made this style popular with the skirts that barely hang on the hip bones and with the jeans that barely come up and cover the crack of the buttocks. I have been in situations with Christian women where I have had to look at the crack of their buttocks because of the low rise jeans, skirts or pants.

#7- See through clothing of any kind.
Clothing that does not cover your under garments to the point where no one can see them. Some of you need to know the function of a camisole.

#8- Skirts and dresses that are just plain too short.
Difficult when you are seated to adequately covered yourself. And then you get engrossed in something in a public setting and you are not keeping your knees locked together and before long the legs are spread a bit and anyone just happening to glance can see clean up to your pants. That is not modest. It is immodest.

#9- Pants or jeans that hug the bottom, thighs, or crotch.
Slacks that either have spandex in them or they are a kind of material that is a stretch material that hugs the buttocks, comes around and hugs the thigh and presses up on your crotch and the crack of your buttocks and you have no idea what that does to many a man when he sees it. You draws the eye to the most erotic part of your body.

#10- A bared midriff and back.
You may look in the mirror and say, “Well, I am fully covered,” but all you need to do is to reach here a couple of inches of your belly are showing. All you need to is bend over and people can see your back and usually the top of your underwear and it has happened right in this assembly.
One man said to one of his elders, “I saw a woman bend over. I could see the top of her
panties and I wondered what it would be like to put my hand down her back,” a godly
young man, passionate to be a holy young man and caused to stumble in this place.

Aren't we all guilty of one or the other? So what should we do, then?

Pastor Martin continues:

Repent. Go to Christ in faith. Find the purging of his own precious blood.

Go to your dresser drawers, go to your closet and remove anything and everything that
has one of these 10 magnets embedded in it.
You say, “Pastor, I will show up in the same outfit for the next five weeks.”
Hallelujah! It is modest. We will rejoice.

Secondly, Pray for and labor to cultivate a sensitive and well instructed
conscience before God concerning this issue.

Thirdly, Welcome the quality control upon your modesty that should come from
your husband, from your father, from your mother, from the people of God and from your
pastors. You may judge something to be modest because you look at yourself through
your own eyes. Someone else is looking at you through a different set of eyes.

I am glad that I had a husband willing to be my own quality control when my good sense deserted me.

But exhort one another daily,
while it is called today;
lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Hebrews 3:13

My exhortation today, for my dear blogging sisters, is to please, please, be aware of your own unintentional magnets for men's eyes. Be aware of the traps you set for others to fall into. We will all give an account for our sins, intentional or not... and I don't know about you but I don't want to be the one to cause another to fall short at judgment day.

Then He said unto them:
"It is impossible but that offenses will come:
but woe unto him,
through whom they come!

It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck,
and he cast into the sea,
than that he should offend one of these little ones!"

Luke 17:1-2

*You can listen to Pastor Al Martin's entire sermon here!*

"A Passionate Love Affair with a Major Appliance"

2010-02-13T10:34:00.000-08:00

I love the commercial on CMT where Naomi Judd is walking 'Country Cribs' people through her house. Not only is she impeccably dressed (as always!) but she walks over to her washer and dryer, throws her arms around them and gushes "It is possible to have a passionate love affair with a major appliance!"

Gets me giggling every time!

I have a serious affair going on with several of my own major appliances, but they aren't always passionate and they aren't always loving! I love my stove... I baby it, cleaning it several times a day and making sure that it is always in pristine condition. My refridgerator is like my best friend, I always keep it clean and full and smelling good... I even have a little thing going with the dryer!

My washer is a completely different story... My washer in particular is giving me serious problems here lately.

See, my washer is about 6 years old. Up until about a year ago, it lived in a nice comfy house with four people. It was always clean and sparkly and didn't have to work very much at all. Since then, however, it's been moved to my messy laundry room and put into what must seem like a forced labor camp... running four loads on a slow day, and upwards of ten to twelve on a busy one.

But I am sweet to it! I make sure and wash the cat prints off the top and sides, I use good detergent and softener, and I make sure that the pockets are usually cleaned out so it doesn't have a bunch of stuff banging around in there.

It just doesn't like me very much.

That's ok. I don't like it very much either. So there. :P

It's very hard to love something that looks for opportunities to break down. First it was a belt. Then it was a hose attachment. Then it was the plug. Then the silly thing wouldn't hold water. Then it wouldn't drain the water.

See what I mean? It hates me! Usually though, we are able to catch whatever problem long before it does any actual damage or makes a huge mess... Usually.

On Thursday however, it was a different story.

I was in the kitchen making grilled-cheese sandwiches on my lovely stove when I asked Harmony to take a basket of laundry she and Regan had finished folding in the kitchen floor to my bedroom.

There I am, cooking away, singing "Just a spoonful of suugggarrr makes the medicine go down, medicine go doooowwwwwwnnn, medicine go down!" at the top of my lungs when I am suddenly interrupted by a shriek! I calmly looked around, counting kids (shrieks are not uncommon in this house!) and realized everyone was playing contentedly except Harmony.

Harmony? She's not a shrieker! What on earth?! I chunk my spatula on the cabinet and gasp to the other five "Stay here! I'll be right back!"

I dash off towards my bedroom and collide with Harmony bolting towards the kitchen.

SMACK!!!

We both stagger for just a moment... it was a hard smack!!

There's my poor six year old, hair put up and curled in pretty bows, wearing her pretty new birthday clothes and bouncing in drenched socks -screaming bloody murder because "THERE'S ICE COLD WATER ALL OVER THE FLOOR!!"

Wait. What?!?

I twist her and turn her around a few revolutions to make sure there's nothing actually wrong with her.

There wasn't.

No wayward spider (Harmony would just stomp on it anyway), no bumps or bruises (Harmony wouldn't have been screaming about that- she once got a splinter under her big toe nail and didn't even see the need to tell me about it!). No big scary anything.

Yep.

I wasn't hallucinating.

The washer was leaking. Again.

Dang it.

The drain magically popped itself loose and then the washer obliged itself by spraying dirty, soapy water all over the laundry area... and the hall way... and the bathroom... and the girls' bedroom carpet... and my office carpet.

Not only was a good part of my house under water, it was under almost 2 inches of water! How does that even happen?!? The clothes were washed in the washer! I checked! The soap was gone and the clothes were all soaked.

*sigh*

I called Josh at work and, as usual, interrupted him up on a ladder (You know he just loved that!) just because I was having a minor freaking out session about living in a swimming pool. I could almost hear him rolling his eyes at me! I mean, come on! Anyone would be upset about that, right? (lol)

"Desi," he says with a sigh, "turn off the water valve to the washer in the bathroom. Get out the Green Machine and suck up the water. Quit washing clothes."

Oh I HATE it when he's that calm when I am gone somewhere outside my mind!

"BUT JOSH!" I shout frantically into the phone, "THERE'S WATER EVERYWHERE. AND IT'S COLD! WE ARE LIVING IN A DAD-GUM SWIMMING POOL IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER!!!!"

With not even a second thought he answers me, "Well, then get out y'all's bathing suits and put on your jackets." and gets off the phone.

*ugh*

I toss the phone down and wander around feeling completely helpless for a few minutes while the big kids dare each other to touch the icy water and the little kids are delighting themselves by throwing blocks into it to see how big a splash they can make...

Oh, and THEN I finally remembered that I had been enjoying myself thoroughly cooking grilled cheese sandwiches. Which were now black as soot and tasted just about the same. So now, my stove is mad at me too. And I left the cheese out by the stove and it's all smushed together.... the fridge is not happy with me either. *sigh*

Stupid washer.

I did eventually (after several hours freezing work) get all the water sopped up and the other appliances contented but I've not forgiven my washer. The stupid thing. I am not speaking to it right now... but it's not speaking to me either. :(

Josh hasn't fixed whatever the problem is yet, and so, for now... the washer has won. I have dirty clothes and blankets just piling up all over the house and I am not happy about it at all.

I have resigned myself, however, to scheming against Washer for the day (hopefully not that far off!) that I will buy a BRAND NEW washer and send this old cranky one for recycling.

Then it can go be grumpy with someone else as parts and pieces and leave me to sing to the stove when I want!

My Winter Blues

2010-02-02T12:50:00.001-08:00

I have been in such a funk today- and sadly, I know that it is completely, totally, 100% my fault.

*sigh*

I am suffering from a case of cabin fever and I am so mentally exhausted from being snowed in... I slept 3hours late this morning. My poor kids were starving, running wild, and dirty as could be when I finally woke up! I never recovered from the bad start this morning.

We still have 4-5 inches of snow piled up in our yard, and although the road is finally melting, my van is still persona-non-grata (we think the head gasket is blown) and getting Josh's to start in this weather is virtually impossible... he's been catching rides to work this week. With as much winter weather as we've had, it's difficult for a man who works outside as his primary income to get work accomplished when he's getting rained or snowed on, or the ground is frozen :( so fixing my van (which has been broken down since the first of the year) is going to have to wait either for sunny days, or tax returns...

Harmony's birthday is Thursday and we are almost obviously going to be stuck at home (which she wanted for her birthday a trip to Chucky Cheese's or Monkey Joe's... unfortunately we can't make the trip as a family in a work van that seats 4 on a good day and with the tools stuffed floor to ceiling in the back!) I was going to go to the store this afternoon while she was napping to get a couple presents and some party supplies and groceries to have a mini-party here at home until we have transportation, but I can't get his van started... I will have to go out and try it again in a little while.

Also, we've made it almost all winter without our pipes freezing (with the exception of the day we installed cabinets in 10 degree weather and forgot to drain the pipes)... that is until yesterday morning. We'd left the pipes dripping for the entire weekend, so we wouldn't freeze them in the storm, and yesterday after it finally started warming back up... what do you know happened? The pipe running to our garden faucet froze and popped the coupling! So I have dishes piled up, dirty kids and a huge pile of dirty clothes to be washed! And one of the first times we don't have water at all is whenever Gabriel decides to have an accident in his bed during the night!

*sigh* At least the sun is shining and the snow is melting. Josh has fixed the pipes, and the water is back on.

I have plenty of miscellaneous decorations and craft supplies to give Harmony a decent family party (even if none of them match!), I have plenty of supplies in my baking cabinet to make her a fantastic cake and plenty of money to order her pizza and plenty of games to play at home.

I got my new cookbook in the mail today. (101 ways to prepare pasta! Yum!).

Even if Phil did see his shadow, we only have six weeks left of this winter! LOL!! Once this snow melts, it will be time to start forming up my raised beds for this year and getting the soil worked into them, time to pot all my many seeds I've got stored all around the house, and time to go play in the dirt for a while! I'll (hopefully!) have a chance to clear out some more land space and get the yard cleaned up. We can finish off the last of our winter projects and get started on the spring ones!

I think it's time for me to change my perspective on this particular day and quit wasting it feeling sorry for myself!! I think it's time for me to stop moping about on the computer and go find something constructive and inspiring to do! But first, I'm gonna find the best cake pattern I can to whip up for Harmony tonight!

..
..
.."Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through HIm who strengthens me."
..
...

The Story of Harmony's First Year.

2010-01-31T11:43:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe (and yes, I always say that!) that my oldest child, my sweet Harmony will be 6 years old next week!

If only I had known when I was pregnant with her what I know now!

Harmony Michelle was born at 8:14am on February 4th, 2004-- her Uncle Bubba's (her great-uncle Tommy) birthday! I spent more than half of my pregnancy alone: Josh was at basic training and got the news that he was going to be a daddy during a weekly phone call! He claimed he already knew.. but I still claim that's hogwash- lol!

It was really rough on me, then. My momma lived 450 miles away and Josh's family thought we were making a big mistake getting pregnant so soon after getting married. It didn't really matter to us though. We'd lost a baby a mere six months beforehand and desperately wanted to be parents. I quit my job as a NA at a local nursing home almost as soon as I found out I was pregnant, I couldn't handle the smell of butter, much less the myriad of smells that come from a medical facility and I was terrified that lifting as much weight as I did each day would somehow hurt the baby. (I wish I still had that particular luxury! During my last pregnancy, I was moving homes and hauling toddlers around!)

We moved to a bigger rental house, and I endlessly re-arranged the nursery, and re-folded clothes, and re-made the bed. There wasn't much more I could find to do! Going from a 40-70 hour workweek to a stay at home prego is a HUGE change! I had horrible morning sickness well into my seventh month, and horrible heartburn and back pain afterward. It wasn't a pleasant pregnancy, physically, but I still loved every minute of it.

We were planning to wait until she was born to find out her gender, but at the last minute, we realized we couldn't wait a minute longer! We started throwing out names immediately and couldn't decide on a single one. My favorites were Olivia and Charlotte, and Josh loved... well he couldn't make up his mind, but he didn't like mine!! One day, in my eighth month, we drove a friend of ours to the hospital for a doctor's visit. Josh and I decided to peruse the gift shop while we waited. We were still at a loss for a name and had come down to tossing out crazy ones: "How about Book? How about Sunshine? How about Bear? We'll just call her Mountain!" I shuffled through gift store merchandise and suggested the name of each as I found it. "What about diamond? How about Cubic Zirconia? I know! We'll name her Turtle! No, no, no! We'll name her Peace! Love! Harmony!"

I remember like it was yesterday! Josh stopped in his tracks. "What did you say?" I looked at him. "Harmony?" He smiled and asked "Where'd you see that?"

I called him over and showed him the virtue stones I'd been picking through. "Right here. Harmony. I was kidding but I actually like that!"

He laughed and said, "We've found a name! Hi, little Harmony!"

I went into labor at 1:30 on February 1st. We were visiting with Josh's grandparents for the week, and staying out in their camper. I was so excited! I just knew before the next night I would be holding my baby!

Of course, it didn't work out like that. 31 hours, and 3 trips to the hospital (because of a terrified husband and great-grandparents) later, Harmony finally joined us!

Less than a week after she was born, we got the news that Josh had been transferred to Mississippi. We packed up all our baby stuff and whatever else we could fit into the u-haul and headed out when Harmony was only a month old. We moved in with Josh's father (who luckily lived less than 60 miles from base!) until we could find our own place. When we moved, Josh lost his second job and I went back to work to try and make up the difference in living costs. We never were able to rent our own place there before he was transferred to Fort Benning, GA six months later.

Shortly after we moved to Georgia, we bought a piece of property from my dad, and I found a good job. My mom, who lived next door, took care of Harmony while Josh and I worked 10-14 hours a day and made our hour long commute to and from work. There were days that I didn't even see my baby. We would get home so late that Harmony would already be asleep and we would crash on Mom's couch until we got up the next day to do it all over again.

It wasn't a way to live, and I am so glad it's over!

Josh was discharged from the army because of a serious back injury, and we could finally come home to Tennessee! We announced to the world on Harmony's first birthday that we were expecting our next baby (and of course, we all know now what happened there! We got two instead of one; but that's a whole other post or two all by itself!!)

I think I will close there for now! That's the story of how Harmony came into the world and the sad craziness surrounding her first year: a mom and dad who worked long hours and left her with her grandmother, four moves into different states and different homes, and the journey from only child to oldest child.

I will continue this later, on who this wonderful girl has turned into and how incredibly blessed I am that I have her in my life!

Yucky Winter Weather

2010-01-30T11:32:00.000-08:00

We are finally out of the 'winter weather warning' but I am afraid we are going to have several more days of this yucky winter weather after the storm! Josh came home yesterday after squeezing a couple of hours worth of work in before it started snowing with a story of a 16 car pile up on Interstate 40. Yuck Yuck Yuck! The wind is still howling like a banshee through the trees outside my window.. but i did take some cute pictures of the kids!

I was planning on going dress shopping with BJ again today. Only this time, for the dress- her wedding dress. She's like me and lives at the end of a dead-end road which is covered in between 5 and 8 inches of snow. But she sent her man out to check the main roads, because we would brave these back ones, and they were still nasty... the snow plows hadn't had their rounds yet, and the salt was basically useless

I salted our front porch, steps, and sidewalk twice yesterday to try and keep the snow and ice off of them, but it didn't work. I looked out the window this morning and there is almost 5 inches of snow piled up on the steps. Although it seems like the rest of the world is out playing; we aren't going out to play in the snow! (I personally really dislike snow and according to the weather, it feels like it's 17 degrees outside!!!) We will wait until it at least feels a bit warmer to go out and freeze our tootsies off!

In our house, we all spent the night watching the snow blow down through the picture windows, while it swirled fiercely around the trees and house. Some spots in our yard are almost bare, and other have snow piled up almost to my knees! Round about 10:00 last night, we built a huge tent in our living room out of extra sheets and a generous contribution from the crocheter in the family (ME!!lol) and we all went camping over night- snacking on pickles and ramen noodles and drinking way-too-sugary drinks while watching late night cartoons. I'm thankful in one way for the snow- at least we didn't get ice that would shut off the power! We heat our house with electricity... that would have been really bad trying to load up enough stuff in this mess to go and stay with family until the electricity was restored

And thanks to the snow, and yucky wind, my normally very active family is stuck inside on Saturday. We have no where to go and probably couldn't get there if we were to try and find somewhere to be. We've spent the day curled up on the couch or in the tent under blankets. The kids watching tv and drawing while I read 'People of the Mist' for the hundredth time, and put off washing dishes. I don't know what it is, probably some kind of biologically induced modified hibernation instinct, but none of us have very much energy today.

So, in lue of actual family activity (since I've sat down to blog all seven other members of my family have gone to sleep!!) I figure I will spend my afternoon working on Facebook and trying to figure out the Php for this website I'm working on without my hunny to help me...

*sigh* Spring just can't get here fast enough!

An Extra Post Today: My New Cabinets!!

2010-01-27T08:12:00.001-08:00

I realized that I had made this big to-do about getting new cabinets and then never shared the final result! This will be a blog in pictures, since I am stealing time while the older children are in the bath and the younger ones still in their beds!!

Well... Here they are!! LOL

Step#1- Empty the kitchen!
(See I told you my kitchen was TINY!! It's 12 x 12!!)

My Dad and me (just because I love him!)

My husband, Josh, measuring to *gasp* cut my nice new linoleum!
But they had to replace the floor under it, so I wont be too mad!

The yuckiness hiding below several layers of flooring
(that got tossed out the kitchen window!)

Out with the final layer!

And in with the new!

Grandpa (my step-dad) took over the hard part:
Watching the kids!!

Nana (my Mom) riding a stick 'horse' with the kids- LOL

Nanny (my step-mom, Kathy) watching the boys!

The backsplash and counter top!

It's starting to look like a kitchen again!

Putting the finishing touches on the sink!

Harmony getting to use my cabinets before I do!

Installing the child safety latches!

All finished!

If you want to see a better picture you will just have to 'stay tuned!' I plan on going in depth when I finally get around to my blog series!! LOL

My Thorn

2010-01-27T06:30:00.000-08:00

And lest I should be exalted above measure
through the abundance of the revelations,
there was given to me a thorn in the flesh,
the messenger of Satan to buffet me,
lest I should be exalted about measure.

For this thing I besought the Lord thrice,
that it might be removed from me.

I've been thinking a lot about Paul's thorn in his flesh here recently.

When I was 13 years old, I was practicing for a dressage competition on a horse named Charmin, like the toilet paper. :) She was an albino Paint, solid white with only off white discolorations where her spots should have been, and ice blue eyes that always watched every move I made as if seeing where she could thwart my intentions.

She stood just over 16 hands tall, but was so huge and round that if you weren't limber, you couldn't hold your seat on her, even with the saddle. She was an absolutely beautiful jumper, and smooth and skilled in the dressage but she had a mean spirit, and needed a gentle but firm hand and an empathic rider. She wouldn't tolerate a hard hand or a stiff leg at all. We had our ups and downs getting to know each other, but after almost a year of riding her, she and I were poetry in motion- we were the favorites for the regional title.

I was supposed to be the only one exercising her. I worked for a boarding farm and earned my horse back time in hard labor scrubbing and feeding for the 50+ horses that lived there every day after school and all day Saturdays. She wasn't mine, but she'd been promised to me for a big regional competition that I had coming up.

One Saturday, I took her out on the trail to lead a ride with a couple of teenagers who boarded their horses at the farm. We were just playing around, but Charmin loved showing off. We jumped everything in sight, out ran the other horses every time I gave her head back to her. She was fearless. The other horses would spook at water, or bright colors, or the wind, but Charmin knew I would take care of her, and she didn't shy from anything.

We should have never shown off like that. We made the other riders jealous, and she didn't even belong to me.

The next Monday, I came and did my chores, as usual. I called Charmin up for a ride and she wouldn't come. I went and got her, just wanting to run a few drills that I wasn't confident on, saddled her up, and headed for the ring.

I knew immediately that something was wrong with her, she wouldn't respond to any of my directions and snorted, tossing her head at the slightest touch of the reins. I was about to give up for the day and take her for a rub down, when one of the girls I had been riding with that weekend came and stood at the rails.

Charmin panicked. She took off at a full gallop and while I tried to get control back of her, she head straight towards a jump standard that had been left in the center of the ring. She side-stepped just as we should have made the jump, and she threw me (for the first time for her, and the first time in three years for any horse!). I landed full force with my shoulder into the wooden jump standard.

You always tend to your horse first, so I caught her and rode her back to the barn. As I was untacking her, I noticed she was shaking- like from a spook... although she NEVER spooked. When I took the bit from her mouth, I opened it and for the first time noticed scabs on the inside roof of her mouth that were just beginning to close.

I calmed her down and let her out to pasture and went to report that I'd hurt myself and call my mom. I found out that the girl who was watching us, who we had shown off for that weekend, had taken my gentle, but obstinate Charmin out for a grueling 5 hour cross country practice that morning, and had beat her, and torn her mouth open and bruised her sides with her spurs. Charmin would never be the same, and neither would I.

I had fractured my left collar bone. Luckily the fracture was a 'hair line' that wouldn't require a huge brace for six months, just wrapping and a sling, but the doctor told me when the x-rays came back that it would never fully heal... it was too crooked, too out of alignment to ever make a full recovery.

That didn't mean anything to a 13 year old girl who only heard "You can ride again in 3 months".

I am discovering how much it means to a grown woman though. It means that lifting my children will cause a shot of fire through my shoulder, folding clothes will be akin to torture, and it means that sitting at the computer desk typing will set my shoulder aching and throbbing.

It means the sustained activity of riding a horse will be almost impossible from the back-wrenching pain emanating from my shoulder.

It means I can never lift as much, carry as much, swim as long, or garden for as long.

I wonder what Paul's thorn was. Was it an old injury that he brushed off when he received it, only to have it follow him the rest of his life? Some people say that the thorn was in his side, others just his flesh. Mine isn't in my side or my flesh, but it is way down deep where no one can see it- I have no scars or bulges in my skin, I look healthy- but I'm not.

I spend the day cradling my left arm to my side, using it only when necessary, or when I work out so that the muscle stays strong. If I work with it too much, it aches for days and nights on end, sometimes to the point of stiffening my arm into uselessness.

I hate not being physically sound- my life requires so much of my body and strength that I feel incapable of giving. There are times that I get so depressed after folding a couple shirts that I fall into a 'pity party' and refuse to do anything.

But Paul didn't let his thorn hinder him. He worked through the pain and reached so many people with his testimony that he's revered as the great apostle. He prayed to be healed and God told him flat out, "No. You need the pain."

In this feel-good world we are told to avoid pain. Take drugs for it. Ignore the activities that cause pain. Ignore thoughts and emotions that trigger pain for our minds. I don't think that's the right thinking. I think maybe we should embrace our thorns... face them head on and scream, "YOU WILL NOT DEFEAT ME!"

After all, our strength comes, not from our body, not from our mind, but from the Holy Spirit, who is perfect and infinite and strong enough to get us through anything... even a throbbing shoulder. He gave Paul the strength to change the world, and He can give me strength to get through the day. And when I open a drawer and see piles of neatly folded clothes and swing my children high in the air just to hear their ringing laughter, then I am pleased and I will praise God.

And He said unto me,
"My grace is sufficient for thee:
for my strength is made perfect in weakness."
Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities,
that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities,
in reproaches, in necessities,
in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake:
For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Just A Cup of Hot Coffee!!

2010-01-26T05:55:00.001-08:00

And he arose, and rebuked the wind,
and said unto the sea,
"Peace, Be still."
And the wind ceased,
and there was a great calm.

I've always envied my dad and brother... they are up every morning by 4:30, dressed, showered, and wide awake- ready for the day.

Let me clarify that-

They. Are. Up -Showered-Dressed-Wide-Awake- Bright-Eyed-and- Bushy-Tailed BY 4:30 in the morning! The alarm doesn't go off AT 4:30, they LEAVE the house BY 4:30. Every day. Rain or shine.

*sigh*

I never inherited that particular trait, but it's one that I dearly wish to cultivate.

Think of the benefits! You do your most private chores in the morning, before anyone else is awake to walk in the bathroom. You can watch whatever you want on tv or spend an hour catching up on emails (which are NEVER behind because you always have time to send them!) You sit and drink your coffee while it's still hot (oh luxury of luxuries!). You could spend hours communing with God without being interrupted by earthly pursuits. You could sit on the front porch and watch the sun come up and the listen to the bird's salute to the day. (Did I mention HOT coffee?!?)

I am, unfortunately, NOT a morning person by nature. The lure of soft sheets, fluffy pillows, and toasty blankets is one I battle daily, regardless of the hour. They're just so inviting and cozy I just want to cuddle up under them! Except for 15 minutes here and there to guide Harmony through her school-work, I don't sit down during the day, I am rarely in one room more than 20 minutes at a time! Then it's rushrushrush off to the next chore, chasing the next child, cleaning the next spill, or working on the next project. My life is rushing by so fast, and I don't claim any quiet time for me to slow it down some.

Another thing I've always envied is the amount of stuff my dad can get accomplished everyday. You would NOT believe his to-do list! I write phenomenal to-do lists, and his still leave me staggered under the amount of work he expects himself to accomplish each day.

But, at any time, day or night, he can and will stop what he's doing for a phone call with a friend, or to teach a grandchild, or to sneak in some kind of loving act whenever he sees the opportunity. He always welcomes unexpected guests, happily, and entertains them as long as they have the need for entertainment, then sends them off and gets right back to work. He's very rarely overwhelmed by his heavy workload (he builds custom cabinets all around the South) although he sometimes has to work late into the night to complete all his other chores.

I don't know how he does it!

I never seem to get ALL my to-do list completed. I have an afghan 1/3 of the way finished that I haven't worked on in over a month! I have a partial lesson plan worked up for the next month, but it doesn't include anything besides the Three R's! My sister called me yesterday to fuss at me because I promised her 6 months ago I would finish clearing out the storage room to make it into a playroom for the kids so I wouldn't call her complaining about spraining my toes or ankles tripping over toys scattered all over the house. (Sad to admit, this, but) I have had our old living room suit sitting beside my house for two months because I haven't loaded it up and carried it to Goodwill yet! I've been to Goodwill several times, but I never seem to have the time to carry itI've got an outline for a 14 blog-post series on organizing a small house to fit a large family, and it's been sitting in my house journal for three months! I mean, come on! I can't even drink a cup of coffee while it's hot- how do I expect to accomplish anything else?!?

AND if I am being truly honest with myself and you, there are many times during the day that I dread hearing the knock on the door because I was raised to put your guests above your chore list, or can't contain a sigh when a friend calls me just to chat, or give them some encouragement or advice.

I feel so rushed, I get frustrated. I make my children and husband frustrated, then I get angry. Then I make my children sad and my husband angry, and then I get sad. Then I make my children feel guilty and my husband frustrated. Then I get contrite. Then I coddle my children, and am afraid to face my husband because of the stress I've caused him. Then I face him, and I promise to try and slow down. Then I slow down and I don't get anything accomplished! Then I rush around, trying to catch up and the entire cycle starts all over again and leaves us all miserable and caught in a cycle that revolves around ME... my ability to control myself... and I am ashamed.

A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband: but she that maketh him ashamed is as rottenness in his bones. (Prov 12:4)

ouch. double ouch.

I don't want to be a rot in my husband's bones! I LOVE him. I want to be a crown, a jewel for him. I don't want to hurt him. But he that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls... vulnerable, a prime target for attack from enemies, anyone could sneak right in and chop off the king (or queen's) head and no one would be any wiser. That's not the way to live. I wonder whether something so simple as controlling my body, bringing it under submission, to such a simple act as getting out of bed could really help me.

Every where I turn in my bible, I find that the simplest answer is always the one given. Your hand sins, cut it off. You have a sharp tongue, control it. You have a lazy body, bring it under submission.

Is it ever really that simple?!?

I do good by getting up by 6:30 when my husband drags me, sometimes literally!, out of bed before he leaves for work. I start my day (usually) cranky, tired, nursing the beginnings of a migraine, and almost 'looking for a fight'. I spend the next several hours 'hoping' to get into a better mood, and sometimes I even succeed! Most days, though, I find myself faking it until about 30 minutes before my husband gets home, when the kids are in bed for their afternoon naps, and the house is finally looking like a grown-up lives here and I can drink my cold coffee in peace, until the cat knocks over the trash can or Gabe kicks Forrest out of bed, anyway.

I don't want to be one of those people who wake up one day, old and decrepit, their children grown and gone, and nothing but a clean house to show for years and years of life that should have been spent in the service of love and devotion, full of happy memories and loving relationships.

Maybe today will be the day that I start to slow down. That I leave the to-do lists on the counter and play instead of worrying. Maybe tomorrow will be the day that I wake up early enough to spend some quiet time with my husband in the morning, to get all my on-line work, and daily housecleaning chores finished before my children get up so I can really mother them, so I can really be present.

Maybe I will go make a fresh, hot pot of coffee and sit on the front porch with the kids and watch my cardinals begin their day for once, and not worry about what I think I have to do and get on with the business of doing what I need to!

Blessed is the man whom thou choosest,
and causest to approach until thee,
That he may dwell in thy courts;
we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house,
even of thy Holy temple.

By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us,
O God of our salvation;
who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth,
and of them that are afar on the seas.

Which by His strength setteth fast the mountains,
being girded by power:

Which stilleth the noise of the seas,
the noise of the waves,
and the tumult of the people.

(Psalms 65 4-7)

My New Year's Resolution for 2010

2010-01-18T06:21:00.000-08:00

I suppose it's finally time to think about the infamous New Year's Resolutions!

I am not a fan of common resolutions: I don't want to point my focus on losing 15 pounds, finishing the remodeling, or buying a new car. That just seems so superficial! What good is it going to do for me to lose 15 pounds if I am miserable while I do it?

I also can't really set my resolutions to what I would like for them to be... I can't guarantee that my four-year-olds will learn to read this year (although I intend to do my part in that as much as I can), I can't resolve that my husband will attend all the services at church (although I would be thrilled and continue to pray). I can't resolve that my kids will keep their rooms clean (although I will certainly keep on top of them), my brother will come out of his depression (although I pray for him constantly), or my daughter will make the competition team in cheerleading (although I will do my best to make sure she practices).

Then I think about things I can control. I won't resolve that my house will stay clean (because it won't!), I won't resolve that our laundry will always be done (because it won't), and I can't resolve that I will have the most impressive garden (because I might not!). I won't resolve I will always look picture perfect (because we know that won't happen!) or 100% of our meals will be completely healthy and organic (because my husband is a junk food junkie!).

Where does that leave me?

I don't know what the year will bring: physically, emotionally, spiritually, or financially. It's pointless to waste time I don't have to spare to worry about resolving to fix those things.

Well, let me amend that: I do have goals for this year (I am a checklist, daily, weekly, monthly, semester-ly goal writing fiend!!), and will have more, but they are always changing day to day or week to week. I can't put a specific goal that I KNOW I will want to have accomplished by the end of this year... I want something that will have more lasting impressions for a resolution.

So, as I listen to my favorite song by Caedmon's Call (God of Wonders), I am forced to think about what really matters; what I can dedicate my 2010 to achieving, and my resolution becomes clear:

Early in the morning,
I will celebrate the light.
When i stumble in the darkness,
I will call your name by night

God of wonders beyond our galaxy,
you are holy, holy.
The universe declares your majesty,
you are holy, holy.

I resolve to live each day, in whatever specific role I am required to live it as (be it wife, mother, housekeeper, daughter, sister, friend, grand-daughter, or stranger) to the glory of God; to deepen my relationship with the Lord of Heaven and Earth; and to study His Word more fully and deeply than ever before.

I think that's a resolution I can commit to!

Although I am a little late; Have a blessed New Year to everyone out there in Blogland!

The Search for Contentment

2010-01-16T20:15:00.000-08:00

Every time I have to make a trip into Nashville, I thank God more and more for my little slice of heaven out in the 'boonies'. Cities are just not my cup of tea! The crush of cars, of people, of noises and noxious smells is just overwhelmingly depressing for someone so used to open fields, empty roads, and the smell of trees and grass. I much prefer to see people I've known for years at every turn then be crushed into a couple dozen strangers with every step! I don't think I could be happy in a big city, or even a small city for that matter.

My house isn't the newest, biggest, most fashionable, or even cleanest you would ever encounter. It's small and cluttered (despite an entire year of decluttering- FLYlady style). It needs a new roof, the yard needs all manner of construction debris removed... half of the yard and property still need to be cleared of underbrush! Our swing-set is nestled beside our roofing supplies and the trampoline is sitting beside the front porch waiting to be assembled. The majority of the rooms in my house need to be re-painted, or the floor replaced, or the windows trimmed.

My neighbors (and there is a grand total of six households within a mile of ours) are a bunch of back woods loners: the type of people who live their lives and want to be left alone with their chickens and dogs and are perfectly happy to let you live yours as well. There's no neighborhood watch, and no block parties but there is also no one snooping out their screen doors, complaining because we have company that's blocking their driveway, calling us first thing in the morning to tell us our children are being too loud and they can't sleep.

Sometimes I despair because I don't live in a model home. I am beyond frustrated because I pick up the same set of trucks and blocks a good five or six times a day. I never have a break, and I have to work in stuff like brushing my hair, putting on jewelry, and reading in amongst a million questions about everything under the sun, cooking, unending dishes and laundry, changing diapers and wiping noses. I forget...

"Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through HIm who strengthens me."

So, when my spirit gets down, I can always breathe, and think of the good things. My peace in God, my children are around me, happy, healthy (for the most part!), curious, loving, and oh-so-adorable. My husband loves me and goes out of his way to show it. I have friends and family who care about me and call me just to make sure my sanity is in tact. :) I go to the store and run into a friend or acquaintance on every aisle. We often gather at the check-out, chatting and holding up the line, and making new connections.

My house is warm and cozy, inviting to those who need a dose of family love. The repairs give my husband, children, and me a chance to bond together and make the absolute best memories. The sense of pride and accomplishment that comes in the spring of seeing flower beds bloom and sweeten the air, and going grocery shopping in my own back yard is beyond words.

I can sit in any room in my house and watch the sunrise or sunset. As I sit here and type, there are at least six different birds' nests outside the two windows my desk is nestled between, and the birds' song and shows are spectacular at every time of the year! The sound of the rain dripping from trees is loud and musical through unfinished windows in the hollow with almost no other sounds.

I don't worry about my children wandering into the street- we know everyone and every vehicle that drives past our home! The deer scamper past our picture window and sneak tastes of leftover veggies in the garden. We have more to fear from the bobcat that lives up the hollow than from a deranged stranger... there are no strangers here.

I begin to understand that although I don't have that pride in my house that comes from it being better or nicer than the next persons. I don't have pride that my kids are perfect, my husband is richer or more powerful than the next, or I will always be immaculately dressed and manicured, I have more than pride. I am happy. What a shock to be able to write that sentence.

I don't think that I've arrived at CONTENTMENT. I still want new things, I still worry about how my house looks, and how cute the kids look, how messy the yard is, the baby weight on my hips and the stretched out skin hanging from my middle (the oh-so-NOT-fantastic side effects of having six children in under five years!), how my nails always seem to be dirty when I have to go out.

I always prayed fervently for contentment. Ever since I heard my pastor speak on it when I was 15 years old. "God," I prayed, " Make me content! Give me this or that and I promise I will be content because you are powerful enough to make me so!"

I didn't understand. We must "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."

Contentment is much more than mere happiness, much much more than pride.

I love this definition I found of contentment: a state of mind in which one's desires are confined to his lot whatever it may be (1 Tim. 6:6; 2 Cor. 9:8). It is opposed to envy (James 3:16), avarice (Heb. 13:5), ambition (Prov. 13:10), anxiety (Matt. 6:25, 34), and repining (1 Cor. 10:10). It arises from the inward disposition, and is the offspring of humility, and of an intelligent consideration of the rectitude and benignity of divine providence (Ps. 96:1, 2; 145), the greatness of the divine promises (2 Pet. 1:4), and our own unworthiness (Gen. 32:10); as well as from the view the gospel opens up to us of rest and peace hereafter (Rom. 5:2).

What a great quest for us to embark upon!

Even Lao Tzu (the same man who said "Give a man a fish...") says "Be Content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you. "

And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. (1Ti 6:8)

Amen

Oh, it's so cute...

2010-01-07T09:31:00.000-08:00

And I want to win it so bad! See for yourself!

Our Family's Favorite Holiday Recipes

2009-12-30T12:20:00.000-08:00

Busymomof10 wrote a blog about some of her favorite Christmas time recipes on her blog, Yes They're All Ours and they sounded so yummy that I thought I would post a few of our favorite Holiday Recipes!

Our Favorite Holiday Breakfast:
I make these pancakes at least once a week, but I ALWAYS make them the morning of a holiday because they are so simple! I think they are super yummy, easy to mix up, and work out FABULOUS because they are egg and dairy free! (We have allergies...lol) For Christmas, I added green food coloring and white chocolate chips...

Egg-free pancakes

3 cups all purpose wheat flour
3 tsp pure cane sugar
3 tsp cinnamon
6 tsp baking powder
3 cups vanilla soy milk
3 tbsp canola oil
3 tbsp water
3 tsp vanilla
6 tsp butter (I use Smart Balance 50/50 because it doesn't aggravate my sons' dairy allergies!)

1- Mix dry ingredients.
2- Add wet ingredients, minus butter. Let rest while you heat up your griddle.
3- Heat up pan over medium heat. Melt butter.
4- Add butter to batter and stir together.
5- Spray pan with non-stick spray. Ladle 1/2 ladle of batter into pan. Cook until bubbles pop and then flip. Cook on that side until brown.

Serve Hot. Makes +/- 12 pancakes.
I always make extra batches of batter to store in the fridge for next time! If you are planning to eat them in less then a week, just double the recipe and freeze the pancakes. Then you pop them in the microwave for about a minute wrapped in a paper towel, and they come out (almost) as good as fresh!

Our Favorite Holiday Staple:
This next recipe I got a couple years ago off of Martha Stewart's website (I mean, you need some creative, absolutely delish food, who else can you go to? LOL) It's a family favorite, and gets requested from the first of the cool season when fresh cranberries start to show up in the stores! Plus, it takes up absolutely no time at all to prepare, uses mostly ingredients you will have laying around the house, and is an awesome twist on a classic dish (one that you will actually want to eat instead of jellied cranberry sauce!), and is so sweet and juicy even the kids will LOVE it!

Cranberry Sauce with Dried Cherries

3 1/2 cups cranberries (one 12-ounce bag)
3/4 cup dried cherries
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
Zest and juice of one orange, about 1/2 cup
2 teaspoons grated ginger
3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar

1- Combine cranberries, cherries, shallots, vinegar, orange zest and juice, ginger, and brown sugar in a medium saucepan, and cook over medium heat until cranberries pop.
2-Reduce heat to low; cook, stirring occasionally, until cranberries release their juices, about 15 minutes. If the cranberry sauce becomes too thick, add water until the desired consistency is reached. Transfer to a bowl to cool

I always make mine a couple days ahead of time, and it keeps really well in the fridge for about 3 days. Just make sure that you keep a tight lid on it! This recipe makes about 3 cups, and of course, we always double it to be sure everyone gets some- but it doubles perfectly!

Our Special Occasion Main Course:
The last recipe I am going to share today is a delicacy around here. I only ever make it on super-special occasions because it just takes so much time and energy. But it is, and always will be, TOPS of my meal requests when I cook for people! It is definitely worth cooking, at least once! Again, I always triple this recipe (because I almost never cook it unless I am serving at least 10-12 people, including my family) and it triples just fine!!

Porcupine Sweet and Sour Meatballs

1 1/2 lb. ground beef
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup raw rice
1 egg
salt and pepper, to taste
2 cups beef broth
20 oz. can pineapple chunks
1 tbsp. corn starch
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce

1- Combine ground beef, onion, garlic, rice, egg and salt and pepper in bowl. Shape into medium sized meatballs and place in Dutch oven. Add beef broth and simmer over low heat (do not boil) until done for about 75 minutes, skimming off any fat which rises to the surface while cooking.
2-Drain syrup from the pineapple and set aside. Combine corn starch and brown sugar in a saucepan. Add syrup, vinegar and soy sauce. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Cook over medium-low heat until thick and syrupy.
3-Pour sauce over meatballs and carefully stir in the pineapple. Simmer 10 minutes.

.Serve over rice or pasta.

Yummy. Absolutely delish!!

Hope you guys enjoy!!

My Cabinets Are Almost Ready!!

2009-12-30T07:51:00.000-08:00

So, my Christmas present from my Daddy this year is... New Kitchen Cabinets!

My Dad owns Best Built Cabinets, in Columbus, GA (if you need new cabinets, he was voted one of the best cabinet builders in the South two years ago! He makes awesome cabinets!! ...and he travels! *lol- don't you love my shameless plug?!?*) But it works out great for me, because he knows we are re-doing our house and of course, needed new cabinets!

He's been sending me pictures of them as they are working on them and I am so excited!!

This is my nephew, Jeremiah, working on them!

And my brother, Danny cutting out doors! Danny actually works for Dad-lol

My favorite niece, Linda sanding! That's little Christian and my step-mom, Kathy working with her!

My dad, and my nephew, Christian! I don't know how anything gets done without Christian!!

And here's my doors all sealed and stained!

And here's the cabinets!

They should be here Friday morning, which also happens to my wedding anniversary LOL, to put them in! I'm ecstatic!

Scheduling My Large Family!

2009-12-28T09:26:00.000-08:00

I am a scheduling fanatic! I LOVE schedules! Don't believe me? I have an ENTIRE 1 inch notebook full to the brim of schedules for every possible scenario that could happen on a day to day basis. I have cleaning and home maintenance schedules, divided by daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly. I have school schedules and lesson plans in the same notebook that are divided up into daily to-dos, weekly to-dos, and monthly to-dos.

I also have medication schedules, visiting schedules (who I promised to see or who we haven't seen in a while and needs a visit), traveling schedules, holiday schedules (everything from simple BBQ plans for Memorial Day to birthday celebrations to to Christmas gift and decorating ideas for next Christmas!). My control journal includes the animals feeding and vacination schedules, gardening plans, and home improvement projects that need to be finished by the end of next

It's not as complicated as it sounds- I put my control journal together 15 minutes at a time over several months, and maintain it 15 minutes at a time as it's needed (about once a week).

If I took a 6 month vacation next year, providing someone would read my Control Journal, my house would still run smoothly and they wouldn't be able to forget anything!! year.

OK, I admit I am slightly OCD. But that is not what makes my schedules work so well. That gives me a driving need to make lists and have everything organized, but it also causes me to become overwhelmed and NOT get anything accomplished when everything is not perfect, which ends up being ALWAYS in a house with six little ones and a husband who works at the whims of the weather. My natural inclinations were working against me! I couldn't be perfect!! :(

I used to be beyond frustrated all the time. I would snap at my husband, I would yell at my kids, I wouldn't sleep because I would be up scrubbing the house (or worrying about what needed to be scrubbed) only to collapse and have everything get messy again while I slept. It was an awful way to live.

Then two things happened:
#1- I spent three hours cleaning my daughters bedroom and woke up the next morning to ketchup all over their bedroom.
#2- I found the FlyLady.

The FlyLady is absolutely awesome. She tells you that you don't have to get everything done in one day. One Day? HA! You don't have to get everything finished in one YEAR! She breaks your home down into FlyZones and you work in that one area, as you can, for one week. Then if you're not finished, SO WHAT? You move onto the next zone! The area you were working in is better than it started in, and if you get some free time you can go back to it.

It was her idea for my control journal. You can see what she says here and here about the control journals. Now, I've read many other places where you create a journal or folder to organize your house cleaning, but her's is the first that really allows you to make a space for everything, however inconsequential. The whole idea is to get it out of your head so you can breathe!

I don't schedule our time by the hour, or half hour, etc. I schedule our time by our routines. We all have a routine that we do when we get up in the morning that takes 15-30 minutes everyday for the kids and about 45 minutes for me. I make it my goal EVERYDAY to be up at least an hour before the rest of my family so that I can get started right and have a chance to get my head on straight before the chaos ensues! I have one, and each of the children have one. I start at my bedroom, and work my way into the rest of the house.

Mine looks like this:

My Bedroom
Get up (Hit the Ground FLYing! -or Finally Loving Yourself)
Make my Bed
Get Dressed to Shoes

Office
Windex Desk and Dust Computer
Check calendar for school and appointments
Check Control Journal for Daily and Weekly To-dos.
Check Email, Facebook, and Blogger (I set my timer for 15 minutes!)

Bathroom
Wash Face and Morning Toiletries
Swish and Swipe (a quick cleaning of the bathroom: swish the toilet and swipe the sink, cabinets, and mirror)
Empty Trash Can

Laundry Area and Hall
Reboot Laundry
Dust tops of washer and dryer
Swiffer Hallway

Kitchen
Coffee and Devotion
Disinfect Counters and Table (We live in the Boonies, who knows what's been crawling on there all night?!? LOL)
Feed the cats
Start Breakfast

It looks like a LOT of stuff to do when you have just rolled out of bed, doesn't it? It didn't start out nearly that complicated: when I started, my entire morning routine was to make my bed, swish and swipe, and have my coffee and devotion and I would add one thing every few weeks! The rest has just evolved and now I don't even have to think about it: it's become an ingrained routine!!!

We have several routines to get us through the day. One for after breakfast, for schooling, for lunch, for before we go anywhere (even just outside to play), and one for before Daddy gets home. None of them take more than about 15 minutes to get accomplished so we have plenty of time for actual living and the unpredictability that is part of life in a large family.

The other MAIN routine that I have is called by the FLYlady the Before Bed Routine. It is the absolutely most important routine of my day, because it prepares us to get the next day started calmly. Again, the children all have theirs, which takes about 45 minutes (including a bath) and I have mine, which is a little more involved and takes about 1.5 hours (not including my bath... but I am working through mine as the children do theirs).

My Before Bed Routine is kind of my morning routine in reverse. It starts right after supper and looks like this (My husband gives the children their baths, Bless him!) :

Kitchen

Wash Dishes and Put Away
SHINE MY SINK
Swipe Counters
Take out Trash
Swiffer Floors
Put dish towels in dirty clothes and set out fresh ones.

Living Area
Help kids pick up toys
Fold afghans
Spray Febreze on furniture and curtains
Swiffer Floors

Laundry and Hallway
Put Laundry to Bed (Fold and Put away last load from the dryer, empty lint trap)
Gather up dirty clothes/put in washer/ measure detergent (so I just have to press a button in the morning!)
Hang up Kids Clothes for tomorrow
Swiffer Floor

Bathroom
Evening toiletries
Put out fresh towels
Check toilet paper and replace if necessary

Office
Clear off desk
Lay Out tomorrow school supplies
Check email, Facebook, and Blogger (another 15 minutes!)

Bedroom
Lay out tomorrows clothes and shoes
Light a candle or put out fresh Smelly-goods
Read or Watch a Movie with Josh
GO TO BED AT A DECENT HOUR

Obviously, I don't get to do my Before Bed Routine straight through most nights, but I know when I enter a room, what has to be finished before I leave it again! Again, it's all become habit at this point!

It works pretty well for us! I love being able to keep the house cleaned "15 minutes" at a time! I love being able to sleep at night knowing that I already know what I have to get accomplished the next day and knowing that I am already off at a good start, regardless of whether I get woken up at 2 in the morning with a child and his achy ear, or whether my SIL calls at 9 in the morning, 5 minutes from our house. I love being prepared for whoever shows up or whatever life throws at us!

It's great!

Wanna check out more scheduling ideas? I know I love reading them! Go here and add your two cents worth!

Christmas is Over :(

2009-12-27T10:07:00.000-08:00

Christmas is finally over, and it's very strange how quickly life gets back to normal! Holidays never last long enough! I will try to post some pictures when I get them on the computer!

Yesterday, I accompanied Josh's grandfather, who we all just call Pa, to Huntsville, Alabama. We had to leave early but he drove down and, although it was rather quiet (he's completely deaf in his right ear, and for some reason, he says my voice is too low a pitch for him to hear well), I think we both enjoyed ourselves. He bought me breakfast at Cracker Barrel, which is awesome! :)

We went to Huntsville to pick up Granny's Christmas present: a 1998 Red Mustang GT!

Nice car, right? I got to drive it the 200 +/- miles back. It's VERY nice!
(Yes, I told Josh the minute I got home that I want one!!)

After I presented Granny with her awesome Christmas gift, I came home and tore up the boys' room. ... Well, I did!... I took everything out of there, ripped up the floor and Josh laid down new carpet! LOL. We are going over to my mom's this afternoon to get a new bed frame and desk to go in there. Forrest, Gabe, and Elijah (because that's who share that particular room) got a Spider-man bed suit for Christmas and we are trying to get the rest of the room ready for their new bed stuff. It's all been needing to get replaced, but in the day-to-day, it kept getting put off, even though we do have all the replacement materials sitting in my front yard (Grrr).

It won't get painted this week because #1 I haven't bought the paint for it, and #2 They decided a couple of weeks ago that they were going to paint everything in there ORANGE... like the orange in my bathroom. Josh had pulled the paint cans out of the hall closet and left them laying in the hall... so of course, the boys decided to paint their rooms... and their carpet... and their mattress... and themselves! We are going to see how they do with new flooring before we paint the walls, anyway. LOL

My dad, Kathy, Danny (my brother) and his children should be up here next weekend to put in my new cabinets!! My dad owns a cabinet shop down in Columbus, GA and since we are in desperate need of new cabinets, he promised me that he would make me some for Christmas! And, of course, when one of the best cabinet makers in the South offers you new cabinets, you say, "Yes, Sir! Bring 'em up!!" But we are trying to get all this other piddly stuff out of the way before he gets here to install them...

He's bringing the kids a trampoline, for their Christmas present. We were clearing out an area in the back yard to put it up, and make a play area, but I don't think that that is going to work. The flat area we thought we found turned out to be just dead-fall with a couple of seasons worth of leaves and bramble piled up... it's not solid at all! It makes you wonder- what were the people who cleared this land for the house thinking?!?

This picture was taken this past spring... so it's harder to see since NOTHING was cleared then. But if you look on the left side of the picture... looks pretty flat and stable right? It's not! It's not solid at all... I found out the hard way- by walking on it, and almost breaking my ankle falling through it!

So we are going to have to find a place in the front yard to put the trampoline until we can get a couple loads of dirt brought in to level out some of the backyard. :(

I guess that's it for today! I have to get dressed and get the kids out of their pj's for a trip to Nana and Grandpa's!