Happy Turkey Day!

No, not Thanksgiving. That's in a few days. Today was Turkey Day! Can you find the turkeys?

I have a weakness for rice krispy treat concoctions. My best was the Krispy Kristmas Train of 2009 (you can see it in a photo halfway down the page here), but these are a pretty darling second place. The balls of rice krispy treat are dipped in chocolate then decorated with candy corn and sprinkles. I saw an ad in a magazine, of all places, and just couldn't resist!

Three of the not-rejects

All packed up for Grandma's house!

Some were so bad. You have no idea how hard working with molten marshmallow-cereal lava is, then trying to coax candy to adhere to it once it firms up harder than a rock (much faster than I was prepared for). But some turned out darling!

I hope your holiday preparations are giddy, cheerful, and chocolate covered as well! Blessings!

An Organized Life

My life is chaos. At least my baby's cute.

But no, really. Organization. I'm not, but I really want to be. And now that a little person is desperately trying to get from one side of the rug to the other (praise the LORD she can't quite yet...), I really need to figure this "keeping house" thing out, because honestly I don't have a clue.

My family's style of keeping house was, "What, someone's coming over? Grab the boxes!" at which point we'd begin a frenzy of throwing things away and shoving whatever was left into boxes which were then stacked in the garage to be dealt with "later" (Yeah, still waiting on "later" to come). We'd frequently still be scrambling when the doorbell rang. I knew I didn't want this to continue in my house but it's incredibly hard to learn how to stay neat when you're not sure where to start. My dear hubby has put up with a mess for long enough but now, with Grace DESPERATELY trying to be on the move, I've run out of time for excuses.

Oh no! Company's coming!

At my moms' bible study this summer, a couple girls were raving about The Fly Lady's system of keeping house. It's like a fad. Who doesn't want to be left out of a fad?! LOL. Her big concept is baby steps and starting with your sink, then building from there. My kitchen's been clean for about 2 weeks, and I've made my bed every day this week! That may seem silly to some, but it's a MAJOR accomplishment in this household. And, since about 6 other girls at church are trying to impliment some or all of the ideas from her website, I've got people (people who can stop in and see my house...) I can think out loud with.

My studying isn't quite as interesting as hers...

It seems to be working. My mother-in-law called me last week to see if she could come visit... she was a mile away and on her way anyway. I was able to look around, heave a sigh, and put away the one plate still on the counter. No shame in that! I was ready when she got here (3 minutes later). No boxes involved!

I won't bore you about learning how to clean; this is mostly a "where've you been?" post, plus an excuse to show off cute pictures of Gracie. My house is still messy, but I'm finally at long last moving in the right direction. I'll leave you with one last thought borrowed from The Fly Lady. It's brilliant, and so very motivating to me:

"Housework done incorrectly still blesses your family."

That's right. My mom's cool. And in her free time, she knits me dresses.

Christmas Came Early

I didn't appreciate how much of a gift it was to be home full-time until I wasn't. I've really been grateful for the opportunity to work this fall (and into the spring), but it hasn't come without a price. The house is a mess, the laundry's behind, and we've eaten countless meals of food that can best be described as junk. The trade-off has been our ability to buy our little house and get on secure financial footing before Baby comes in May. It's definately been worthwhile, but I've so missed my home.

But Christmas came early this year!

Due to the way my company pays holidays, we each got an extra day off this week. We always get Sunday-plus-one; this week we get Sunday-plus-two! And, I took a double shift for Wednesday, so I actually get Sunday-plus-three this week. I'm beside myself with joy. Today (Tuesday) is my first home-day in literally months. No errands... no classes... no commitments outside my own four walls. The big plan? Wearing a skirt (only my wrap one fits right now, oh pregnancy), wearing an apron, baking cookies, folding laundry, scrubbing the floors and the kitchen, maybe even finding a little time this afternoon to curl up in front of a movie and work on kitting Blueberry's blanket (thank goodness I have until May!). I'm cooking a big, healthy pot of soup and relishing in the gift that is today.

I'm off Thursday, too, when my sister is coming to spend the day with meand receive her early Christmas present: instruction on how to plan a menu and grocery shopping. She moved into an appartment in August and has been trying to figure all that out in addition to being a senior in college. I've planned her a couple menues of Once-A-Week cooking of her favorite meals. I haven't decided yet if we'll test run the cooking Thursday or just talk about it theoretically, but it's sure to be a wonderful day.

It's a gift I couldn't have known I needed: the gift of time. Time to appreciate doing the things I really love to do. Time to work on making my house into a home. Time to renew a special relationship with my sister. Time to just breathe.

I pray that this crazy, busy holiday week, you have an opportunity to think on the best gift we've been given: our Savior Christ, whose coming as a baby is celebrated at Christmas, but even more upon his sacrifice as a man at Calvary. And, I pray that your heart is nourished in the way you most need so that you can enter the new year refreshed and filled with supernatural joy.

God Bless!

Getting Back on Track

Do you know what the hardest part of a routine is? For me, it isn't setting it up in the first place. No. In my house, the hardest thing is when I have a brilliant (or at least functioning) routine down pat and then for whatever reason, I stop. Starting AGAIN is more challenging than anything the first time around.

That being said, this fall has been chaos. Not a single routine I had in place in August is occuring this first week of December.

To be fair, my reasons for dropping routine have been good. We *did* after all move into a new house (which immediately became a construction zone). Our new house is missing the dishwasher I had come to rely on at our apartment. I did start a nearly-full time job and a new ministry position that puts me out of the house, together, nearly 50 hours a week. Oh, and did I mention? On top of all that, I'm pregnant and that 1st trimester is a *real* challenge.

So my Christmas gift to my husband, my child-to-be, and myself -- more special and important than anything material available in any store -- is to get back on track with routines. I'm going to make an honest effort to get at LEAST back to where I was over the summer, and hopefully improve even further in a few key areas I've always struggled with (oh, laundry...).

So Sunday afternoon, I dug through all the boxes of books (which are still waiting for their shelves to be finished) to find my cookbooks. I brewed a pot of tea, grabbed my calendar and a blank notebook, and curled up to plan the menu for the week. This has got to be my favorite routine ever! I wrote up the grocery list, as well as a task list for the week. Tuesday mornings are my only home mornings (until I quit my job in the spring) so I made a jolly mess of the kitchen and cooked 3 days worth of dinner plus one extra for the freezer. It's been soooooo nice this week to have healthy, homecooked, tasty meals ready to be warmed up when I walk in the door exhausted at 6:30pm. I can't believe I went so long (cough... like, almost all 17 weeks of this pregnancy...) without a plan for the kitchen.

One routine down, and it's one of the most important! Now that we're fed, next week I'm going to add on laundry so we stop the morning scramble for work clothes. I've got to start it over the weekend tho, with finally -- FINALLY -- moving in the dressers from storage and unpacking all our clothes from the suitcases and laundry baskets and moving boxes they've called home for the past 2 months.

I'm curious: What's the most important routine in your household? What routine are you still trying to accomplish? And, once I have both cooking and laundry under way, what should I tackle next?

What a busy week!

Guess what I'm doing tonight! I'm moving into my house!

Now, you're saying, "Wait... didn't they move way back in October?" Yes, we did. WE moved into our house, but none of our stuff did. It got stacked precariously in the garage out back while we did some substantial cosmetic rennovations to the interior. I've been living with a grand total of 4 pieces of furniture... in the ENTIRE house. One bed, one dresser, one comfy chair, and one kitchen table (and two kitchen chairs at it... so 6 total). Everything we need (ie, clothes) has been stacked in various moving boxes and laundry baskets or simply piles on the floor. Utter chaos.

And, as I'm increasingly preggo (17 weeks all the sudden), my tolerance for mess has steadily decreased. I want my little nest to actually have a place to sit :( BUT! Last night, my dearest darling husband finished painting the living room. This morning he got up early to remove the tarps and tapes. I'm ALMOST done cleaning the hardwood floor back to what it looked like in October. And tomorrow! Tomorrow my couch is coming in! And my books (have you ever gone 2 months without any books? Not even cookbooks? I'm glad it's over)! AND MY CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS!

I'm so grateful to Hubby. He's worked hard to get us to this point. There's still a ton to do, but I'm calling it quits until after the first of the year. It's time to relax and enjoy being homeowners!

Pictures soon :) I'm waiting til the "stuff" is in place :)

Wallpaper Woes

I slipped off the blog-wagon again -- but I have an excuse!

Friday morning we closed on our house. It's beautiful. It's perfect! At least, it will be once the many-decades-old-and-ugly wallpaper comes down. Personally, I'm leaning towards a ban on wallpaper. It should be illegal, or you should be required by law to remove it before selling your home. Why? WHY?! Because it is such a long, exhausting, PAIN!

Although my camera is at the other house, let me paint you a word-picture:

In the bedroom... blue wallpaper in a quilt pattern with wood panelling half way up, and a chair rail. We pulled off the pannelling to find ORIGINAL (1930s) pink wallpaper that kind of looks like brown paper bags painted over with dusty rose. Current stripping time: over 15 hours, with probably 2 or 3 still to go

In the dining room and hallway... red, white, and black floral print that was so small and painful that my camera didn't know what to do with it. It turned the flowers into dizzying lines. There was panelling in there, too, which was hiding tan... um... I don't even have words. It's tan, with vertical lines, and little gold foil bits that kind of look like worms. Stripping time: not yet started, and I'm dreading the day.

I'm saving pieces for my scrap book.

It's a lot of work (a LOT), but I'm so excited to be getting my nest ready for our growing family. There's so much to do and only 30 weeks to accomplish it in! I've already picked the colors fomr the living room and our bedroom. I've got some good thoughts on the dining room. And I have NO idea what I'm going to do with the nursery. Change that a little... I have far too many ideas, but I can only use one. Narrowing it down is going to be a challenge. I think I'm going to put that off for a few more months :)

Happy Wednesday!

Where've you been, Jen?

I've been learning to keep house, that's where!

I know, I know... I've been married and had a house for a year and a half. I've made bread and sewn aprons and arranged our little duplex to my heart's content. But through all that time (with the brief exception of a few weeks last Christmas season) I've been outside the home in some way: college classes, babysitting, student teaching. All sorts of busyness that made homemaking more of a hobby than a day-in-day-out reality.

I wasn't even sure I'd be home now. Shaune and I had talked about me getting a job after Africa. Nothing serious, just substitute teaching or a part-time secretarial position or something of the like. It was really during our trip that we sat down together to discuss with all seriousness and really pray about what was best for our family situation. This was the result: I'm at home for this season, children or not. I have work enough to do here.

These two weeks at home "for real" have been eye-opening. On holidays before, it was like a game, but this time I know I'd better buckle down into a routine pretty quickly or I'll find myself wasting time. This is hard work! And repetitive -- the same things need done every day. Dishes, laundry, make the bed, wipe the counters, cook. It's mindless... and I LOVE it. With my hands busy, my mind is clear to think about the things that really matter. I'm growing in gratitude every time I put away our clothes and realize that the friends I met in Liberia would find our clothing so extravagant. I am so thankful every time I approach the fridge to cook a meal and find it fully stocked with healthy foods. I have so much to be grateful for.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still wasting a lot of time (there's this one video game I'm SO CLOSE to beating...). But every day, I do a little more work, a little less play, sing a little more joyfully, pray a little more truthfully. I'm getting closer to my dream life day by blessed day.

A Fast-Approaching Deadline

I always have the best of intentions. Start a new dress that will become a wardrobe staple. Plan a menu and only grocery shop once a week, or even every other week. Move into a new house and make it a pretty home...

The problem is, life tends to get in the way and my big ideas get put on the back burner. Well, this time, I refuse! I'm not living in a half-unpacked house any longer. How am I going to ensure that? By having an open house. On Sunday.

It seemed like a good idea when I first planned it. I will be motivated to keep pushing on and get the house ready. We'd rush to move in then have a lovely party to celebrate. But... life got in the way, in the form of sickness, job projects, family commitments. And the house got put on the back burner. So... me being me... I set a deadline. Of Sunday. As in, three days from now. And my in-laws are coming over for dinner tomorrow night.

I'm not sure what posessed me, but it's coming like it or not! Some of the ladies from Bible study are helping with the treats, at least, but my dear friends will hopefully have a giggle at my half-hung pictures and un-curtained windows. Unless a miracle shows up between now and then!

Wish me luck! And, since everything will be done (theoretically), there will be many more pictures of our little paradise very soon!

Introducing Sundowner Lane

I'm excited to show you, for the first time, our new home!

We live in the lower level of this split level house. We bought it for this view here:

I swear this is the ONLY hill in Springfield. Maybe all of Central Illinois. It's so pretty! This picture doesn't do it justice. We went biking on Thursday evening and it was absolutely stunning. There's a creek (currently flooded) just at the bottom of the hill. Riding into it stirred my heart. I'm so happy to be out in the country. We can see the stars for the first time since moving to Springfield. We can also see amazing sun sets -- hence the name of the street. Everything about this place was carefully provided for us by the One Who Cares.

Things are still chaotic. We spent the first half of the week scrubbing the 6th Street apartment then the second half of the week scrubbing this one. I refused to unpack boxes until the windows were clean -- there was a 1/2 in of dirt in the sliding tracks that made them so they couldn't open. This is the first and only room so far in my house that is pulled together:

That extra shelf unit was because we've got a ton fewer cabinets that at 6th Street. It was a $12 Goodwill find. It'll also be a nice place to knead my bread and stuff, because the other countertops are a little clasuterphobic. It's got all my frequently used appliances on it in easy reach to grab and plug in: crock pot, toaster, rice cooker, blender. The rack will hold bread and fruit, napkins, and other easy-grab things. The trash can is hiding behind the shelf.

All the paintings are still stacked in our bedroom closet and there's still three suitcases of clothing to be opened and washed. It's a far cry from finished, but now we're into the fun part. I love arranging everything.

Blessed Sunday to you all!

We're getting a house!

I'm so excited. Last weekend, Shaune and I had a long talk about where we are and were we want to be and cam to a unanimous decison -- we don't want to be here anymore.



This has been building for a while. Many of you saw the post below about our neighbor. The dryers haven't worked the whole time we've lived here, so several nights a week our apartment looks like a clothing store as every doorframe has been claimed as drying space. Our friends downstairs recently moved to a different apartment in a better school district. Etc, etc, etc. This home served its purpose, but it has come to be time to move on.



We started scanning Craigslist and the classifieds for a rental house on Sunday. We started touring on Monday. Last night, we found the "house of our dreams," at least as far as rentals in our price range go!



Compared to where we are now, it's like moving to Martha's Vineyard. It's a quiet little duplex on the north west edge of town -- the one part of town that isn't a cornfield. There are actually hills and mature trees. We'd be downstairs from a family with three little ones under the age of 7. You can hear footsteps but no voices. Plus, they're sweet, we met them briefly while touring last night. We'll have our own laundry hook up. There is a front door and a back door. And a yard! And a garage! And even more closets than I have now! And it only costs $5 more per month than where we currenly live!



Oh, there's always things that could be better. "The grass is always greener..." We could be upstairs, or have bigger windows, or a bigger yard, or a mansion in a gated community that someone else is paying for.... :-D



But as my darling husband says, "Let's take what the Good Lord chooses to dump in our laps."

A Bountiful Harvest

We've been super busy this past week! Although we don't have a garden ourselves, we've been picking at my in-laws house and pulled in almost more than I have time to deal with.

So far we've made 2 quarts give or take of sun-dried roma tomatoes. That doesn't sound like much, but it started as three plastic shopping bags filled to the brim. The bushes are still producing, too, so there may be more to come.

My father-in-law also had more jalapano peppers than he knew what to do with. That provided hours of fun, especially when we kept finding little patches of the oil on our skin throughout the day! My husband got some in his eye; I got lucky enough to avoid that. Next time I think we'll have to get gloves. We froze 3 quarts so far and will probably pick up some more next weekend.

Then, today, we wanted to celebrate Labor Day by, what else, laboring! But this was the fun kind of work. We went to a small country apple farm where they run the tractor out to the orchards and let you pick your own apples. We got just under 25 lb of apples today: 20 (2 pecks) of jonathons and 5 (1/2 peck) ozark gold. Which led us to our next fun experiments...

Shaune elected himself to be in charge of apple pie filling. He manned this cool contraption here, which did all the work for him:

That there is my mom's Apple Peeler-Corer-Slicer from Pampered Chef. It is such a fun toy. I had to stop Shaune or else he'd do all 25 lbs of just that! It makes like a giant apple yo-yo that is excellent to play with. We sliced the yo-yo in half, dumped them into a large freezer bag, and added the spices. We've now got 5 pies worth of filling ready to whip out and bake whenever we need it.

I decided to make apple butter. This is my first experience canning and although it was a little rocky, all 10 jars sealed correctly on the first try! I love apple butter. This stuff started as a full pot of apple pieces and cooked down to 10 cups worth of cinnamony, sweet, perfect goo. We couldn't help taking a spoon and eating a good bit while cooking. I think I'm going to save it and give it away for Christmas presents.

I still have about 12 lb of apples to deal with. I know what we'll be eating for breakfast, lunch, and dinner all week. I'd like to can more but with the pot I have, I can only do 1/2 pint (8 oz) jars right now. Unless I can borrow a bigger pot, I think it would be too expensive to buy enough jars for the rest of the apples. Not to mention the time. So for now, they're going to hang out in the cooler and be fresh treats, at least until I can come up with a better idea.

Any suggestions?

Dehydrated Goodness

First off, I want to say thank you to all of you for your sweet comments on my last post. It's so nice to reminisce on weddings every now and again!

I've used my dehydrator 3 times now! The first time I already wrote about. Next, I made zucchini chips. Although they're a little bitter (I've never been a huge zucchini fan), they're so tasty and easy to snack. This only a fraction of what I originally made, since more disappear every time we walk into the kitchen. What a way to add veggies -- another thing I'm bad about!

The small jar with the black lid is celery. With student teaching this semester, I'm planning a bunch of homemade soup mixes to be ready in the cabinet for when I walk in from school. This is five stalks of celery; most of my recipes call for one, so this should make about 5 mixes. I was **shocked** at how much the celery shrank. I guess it really is mostly water after all.

The red-lid is 6 green peppers. Organizing Mommy -- I'm glad you laughed about wasting 1/2 a pepper. I realize it's not a big deal, I laugh at myself all the time, but it makes me feel better this way that I won't be wasting. Does this make me frugal or a fanatic? (LOL)

Finally, carrots. I love carrots in all shapes and forms. These will be chopped a little smaller to go into the same soup mixes as the celery. I love being able to make my own convenience food.

Oh, and as an aside, the cake in the back is our anniversary cake. Funny story. When we got home from the wedding, we found a cake about the same size as the one shown here. Somehow, with the exhaustion of moving and marriage, it didn't even sink in that that was the top layer we were supposed to freeze for a year! We ate the whole thing in a week. I didn't realize what we had done until, oh, 2 days before our anniversary. My mom found humor in our situation and didn't want us to be cakeless, so she took the original photographs and re-made us a top layer. French vanilla cake with nutella (hazelnut) spread in between the layers. And, if I may brag on my mom a tiny bit, her version actually looked much prettier and more like what we wanted than the baker's. I'm so proud of her and her cake baking hobby.

My husband's preoccupied with martial arts belt testing all weekend, so I intend on writing several more posts between now and Sunday. One may even be intelligent!

It's Only Hair

Today we made one more step towards independence -- I'm excited! It's a tiny step in the grand scheme of life, but may be a big one in the long run.

I woke up this morning and realized that my husband's hair is absolutely shabby. It was time for a haircut. Shaune refuses (with my complete understanding) to not go to a Great-Clips type place or the beauty school... only an authentic barber shop will do. Unfortunately, all the local barber shops charge between $14 and $18 a cut before tip. That doesn't fit into our budget the every 3 weeks or so that he needs it. Usually we stretch it to 5 or 6 weeks, but the trade off is dramatic (he looks much older when it's long).

I decided to take the somewhat scary step of taking responsibility for my husband's hair. I found a well-rated hair cutting kit for the same price as one haircut and gave it a whirl.

Although I probably need some more practice (and confidence), it turned out very well. Now, I have the freedom to trim him as often as he needs, without worrying about money or the barber shop's schedule. It's a small step, but a rewarding one.

And, if I mess up, it's only hair. It'll grow back next week!

Unexpected Blessings

In the midst of struggles, I've noticed that God often provides some kind of outlet, some blessing that makes getting by much easier.

For me, I've finally been able to quit my second job.

This job has been a blessing in many ways over the past several months, helping us to completely pay off our consumer debt. But since May, the job has gone steadily downhill. I cut back to one day a week, but even that one day has been so difficult. Miscarrying has provided the "excuse" I needed to leave completely.

So, starting yesterday, I have my Tuesdays free to do what I need/want. Yesterday I did laundry, made bread, and spent hours sorting through the local thrift stores to find a summer wardobe. My husband came home to a happy, relaxed wife and dinner nearly finished.

Days like that reinforce the desire of my heart to keep a home and a family rather than pursue a career. I have one more semester of college to complete before that will be a reality. Shh don't tell... but I've already started the countdown on my wall calendar!

New work

I've not been able to visit Blog-World much lately, as I began a new job last Monday. For the next three months, I'm working full-time for a wonderful family I met in my Sunday School class. They have four children -- the youngest two are adopted from China. And as much as Mom desperately wants to be home with them, their new baby Caleb has a cleft palate and Mom's job is the one that offers insurance. So, they asked me to care for the kids in their home over the summer, instead of having to find a daycare or something.

I've already learned so much about how to raise a family and take care of a house with demanding little ones running around. No wonder many moms are tired! This is the perfect opportunity to work on my homemaking and childcare skills before our own family is underway.

I've had a lot of insights I've been jotting in a small notebook; I hope to share them here in the near future. When there is time!

Saturday Morning Fun

I woke up Saturday morning with a bug to go yard sale shopping. I've never been much of a yard saler, but I was desperately in need of some more pots to put my plants in (it's amazing how big little tiny seeds can grow, I wasn't properly prepared). I also wanted some paintings if I could find them cheap because I live in a white apartment and am so bored of white walls.

So, with coffee in hand, my dear husband humored me by getting up early and setting out to peruse the near-by neighborhoods. It was May 2nd, a beautiful sunny Saturday that defines everything I love about spring. I was certain we'd find a yard sale on every block.

Except, we didn't. I'm not sure if it was the neighborhoods we chose or what, but I didn't find a single yard sale anywhere in town! We drove through several different neighborhoods without any luck. Then, right before we gave up and went home, a little sign caught my eye: "Public Auction Today." Shaune turned to me in excitement and said, "Let's Go!"

We got there a little bit before they started, so we got to wander around and see everything that would be up for sale. An older lady had passed away, and her family was clearing out her house. Some of the family members were around helping set up. I saw so much that I would love to own! So I registered for my number, sent my husband on to his meeting, and waited for the excitement.

The sale was one of the most exciting things I've ever been a part of. I've never been to one before. It was so hard to not stick my number up for every item -- but I guess that's exactly what the auctioner wants. I got some great bargains on the things I needed and then some: $22 got me about 20 flower pots, three paintings, two boxes of cooking and sewing books, a couple of decorative plates, and two little figurines for my mother-in-law's Mother's Day present. I've still only sorted through half of the books but the ones I've already seen are excellent! A Vogue book on fit and alterations, cookbooks from the 50's on how to be hospitiable on a budget (!), even one on inexpensive flower aranging to decorate the house. All my plants have new homes and I have pots left just in case I want more. All for $22...

About half-way through the auction, tho, I was hit by extreme sadness. Someone had spent years gathering all these mementos, books, craft projects, furniture, everything that was laid out for sale. And yet, when she died, it was left behind to be picked up for pennies by strangers. She had a lot of half-started craft projects that no one wanted -- the auctioner threw something like 5 boxes together as a single lot that sold for $3. I felt like crying. This auction made clear for me something I've read before but never internalized:

Matthew 6:19"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal."

Luke 12:16-20 "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'
18"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '
20"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'"

This auction set these verses firmly in my heart. They have become real to me in ways I haven't experienced before. It's not that we shouldn't have things in this life, but we shouldn't put our heart in them. Because, after we die, they could be sold for pennies or even thrown away. Material things have no eternal value whatsoever. So, let me encourage you to:

Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. (Matthew 6:20)

Channelling my innner Italian grandmother...

or rather, my crabby (but lovable!) father-in-law who spent the better part of the 1980's living in Italy at the behest of the American military. Last weekend when we visited he taught me how to make noodles.





I've been making bread, bagels, pizza, and lots of other things at home for quite a while now, but NOODLES? I've always just bought them, $1 a lb, at the grocery store. No one really has enough time to make NOODLES, do they?! Well, my husband apparently has a soft spot for homemade noodles. Eating his dad's this weekend renewed that desire. Since tonight on the menu is Stroganoff, and I happen to be out of egg noodles and not particularly keen on going to the grocery store, he asked (begged...) me to use his dad's recipe and make them myself.





So I did.

They're so yummy and fresh! They still have real flavor in them, not dehydrated, shipped, sat on a store shelf for a while collecting dust flavor. They're also chewier than I'm used to, but they're so excellent I could definitely get used to it. And, from start to pot-ready only took about 15 minutes. Definitely within my time window of willingness. I think I've just added something new to my cooking repertoire!

My not-very-green thumb

I have always wanted a garden. When I was young, my parents let me experiment in the back yard from time to time, but I never harvested anything more than a rotten pumpkin and three ears of buggy corn. Ever since I heard about self-sufficiency, tho, my interest has been peaked. I wanted to try a garden --for real -- this year.





Now, a few realities of my situation: I live in an apartment, on the second floor, with only a small balcony. I have no idea of the difference between a weed and a seedling. My father-in-law offered to "coach" me if I'll come spend some time this summer in his large garden, and the Internet is a literal cornucopia of information. After taking a deep breath and getting my husband to laughingly hand me the check book, I've set out on this adventure.





Any of you experienced gardeners, feel free to laugh heartily at what I next say. I horribly over-seeded and over-watered my little peat pellet greenhouse tray thing I got for $6 at Wal-mart. It molded *gasp*. After clearing out as much of the yuck as I could, I still had a good amount of seedlings. The next challenge is in the growing of them. Pots are EXPENSIVE! So I wandered around a little while and hit upon a wonderful discovery....

A Rubbermaid sale! So my little garden will be grown in big plastic tubs filled with dirt. My husband was once again entertained. He laughed as he exclaimed, "Well, if you fail, at least we'll have more storage boxes!" My little green friends are hanging out by the balcony door until it gets a little warmer out. I'm amazed how much they've grown already -- it's only been a week and a half! This is the "salad" box, I've got a few others scattered at other sunny windows.

Here's my list of attempted veggies. My goal is to have fresh salad at least once or twice this summer ;-) :

1. Cucumbers (4in super sweets)
2. Summer Squash (a mini variety, 3 - 5")
3. Mixed lettuce
4. Spinach
5. Cherry tomatoes
6. Spearmint (for tea)
7. Chamomile (also for tea)
8. and Impatiens to fill a pretty flower pot I got as a wedding gift

This certainly is an adventure. I'm not sure what I've gotten myself into, and I'm scared to death of killing everything before it even sees the great outdoors (of an inner city balcony). Maybe God will laugh, too, and allow me to harvest an abundant crop.

The cold days of winter

Today is nearly the last day of winter break. On Tuesday morning, I have to resume my place in the drudgery that is the American education system. These 6 weeks at home, learning about myself as a wife and a homemaker, have been heavenly. I feel like I've accomplished so much! I never realized that being home alone all day could be so fulfilling. As sad as I am to go back to school, I take joy in the fact that I have only 6 more classes, then 15 weeks of student teaching before I graduate with my Bachelor's in Elementary Education. Although it's hard to be motivated now, my husband and I have talked repeatedly about the benefits it will bring to our future family, especially if we move to a state that is not homeschool-friendly.

Here's what I've completed during my brief stay at home:

1. Sewing my Regency Christmas dress, start to finish.
2. Crocheting a little stuffed mousey for a friend's baby (see the adorable pattern here)
   
3. Reorganizing the study/spare bedroom
4. Sewing new flannel pajamas for myself and my husband
5. Decorating for Christmas and hosting a Christmas party
   
6. Reading several good books
   
7. Canceling cable television (we decided, after much discussion, that it wasn't worth the cost and was only bringing filth into our home) and reworking our budget to increase giving
8. Baking many tasties in the kitchen
   
9. Going on a wonderful honeymoon to celebrate my marriage with my soul mate

and...

1. Quite possibly started on the road to mommy-hood! Although we're still waiting for a positive test, my body is telling me that I am carrying treasure. No period, sleeping 12-15 hours a day, constant nausea, coupled with bloating that makes even my most comfortable clothing a little uncomfortable is cluing me in to the idea that maybe I'm in the small percentage of women who don't get enough hormone in their waste to ever get a positive test. I plan to call a doctor and ask for a blood test next week, if nothing changes.

It wasn't until this break that I realized how much SAHMs or SAHWs actually get done. I've been in the public school system from preschool through college (the end is near...) and have constantly been told that a woman without a job is worthless, especially if she doesn't have children. This teaching has always conflicted with the tug in my heart towards home, which has only gotten stronger as I've grown in my faith. When I worked in a daycare center, my heart would break every day as mothers and children would tearfully say good-bye. Certainly leaving a piece of yourself behind so you can "work" isn't natural!

My husband and I decided even before the wedding that I would stay home once we had little ones, but my mind was still filled with lingering doubts about my ability to do that well. It wasn't until just a few days ago that I found peace with making my own schedule and finding contentment in my own explorations and projects rather than those assigned to me by professors. Home certainly offers a different kind of life, but has it's own peaceful, sustaining rhythm. Home is where I'm called to be. I am counting down the days until I can be home for good.

Pretty in Pink

I work about 10 hours a week for a sweet home-school family. It's their first year at home -- the older girl attended K-3 at a local school. The 4-yr-old is starting at home and staying there. Since the mom had to keep part-time hours at her job to make ends meet, I come in once a week to "do school" with the girls, as well as help pick up the house and keep everything moving smoothly.

Yesterday things didn't go smoothly. The 9-yr-old was in a heart breaking "need mommy" mood, so we struck up a bargain: the older girl would go to work (then lunch) with Mommy, and the little one would come over to my apartment for a "Pretty in Pink" tea party!

We put on our pink dresses, then aproned up to bake pink cookies. We laid out my pink heart afghan to be our picnic blanket. I had packed a bag with her favorite cuddly animals and we got out my old, battered teddy bears. Oh of course -- we tied pink ribbons around their necks and ears. It was so fresh and exciting. I haven't had this much fun in ages.



We still don't know if I'm expecting. My husband asked me to wait until this weekend when he can spend the whole day with me to test. In the mean time, I've been acting as if I am, taking vitamins and avoiding the bad-for-you stuff like diet coke. I feel pretty certain that I am, tho, after reading a variety of websites that describe exactly what I'm feeling. Among other things, I've never been so tired in my life.

Today's tea party made me so excited about the prospect of having a little one! I only "borrow" these girls one day a week, but I look forward to it so much. We have such a good time together, and I love being intimately involved in their schooling. It's exciting to see them learn and grow more every time I visit. My time with them is also building my confidence in my abilities as a future mom.