Moving blog

I got a spam comment on my old blog. I realized that I had a lot of cool stuff on it. There are aspects I like better in Blogger and likewise in Wordpress so it's hard to say which is the better platform. But in the end, it's much easier to import another blog into Wordpress so I will be posting there from now on. All my posts from here have been moved to -

Love in the home

DIY Pocket Protectors

Why did I never think of this before? I guess my idea of pocket protectors were smart guys trying to protect their shirts from a leaking pen or sharp scientific instrument. I was reading about using aprons on Large Family Mothering. I had heard of doing this before but it seemed a chore to keep things from falling out of your apron or damaging your pockets much less the time to move everything from one apron to another. Then I read her solution of making a simple canvas drawstring bag to keep scissors, pens, nail clippers, etc without damaging the apron pockets.

How brilliantly simple! Then I thought of my husband. His box cutters, pens, keys, etc destroy his pockets on a regular basis. I get why they make pockets out of thin fabric to keep from adding too much bulk but those pockets are not made for working men. What if I made two smaller drawstring bags from a sturdy fabric for his pockets? I thought about making it as a gift but since his birthday is months away, I just told him about my idea. He liked it.

I didn't have any canvas in my stash but I did have a strong denim. I used some squares that were already cut to about 8-10 inches. I folded them in half with right sides together and stitched an L around the open side and the bottom. I used a straight stitch and then a zig zag stitch over it to make it strong. I turned the bag inside out so that the denim blue was showing.  I checked to see how it fit in my husband's pocket and folded it down a couple inches so it wouldn't show. I sewed a drawstring channel. I cut an opening and used a safety pin attached to the end of my ribbon to feed the ribbon through as a drawstring. The ribbon came from a couple sets of bathcloths that I had bought on clearance. I brought the ends of the ribbon together and tied a sturdy knot.

Not only will this protect his pockets but it can also be pulled tight before sitting in a recliner. You have no idea the amount of box cutters and markers that have been fished out of our recliners. It also saves a lot of time of moving all his manager essentials from one pair of pants to the other. It makes it easy to pull out and put on his nightstand so he can spend the evening without all that weight in his pockets.

Here are the two drawstring bags. I am still in awe. Why did I never think of this before?

Babystep #25 Ditch the table salt

Babystep #1 - Add kefir daily or at least several times a week.

Babystep #2 - One batch of broth and subsequently soup a week.

Babystep #3 - Introduce fermented veggies.

Babystep #4 - Streamline kitchen

Babystep #5 - Add detox baths

Babystep #6 - Add omega 3 supplements

Babystep #7 - Purchase some more local raw honey.

Babystep #8 - Ginger tea - My day doesn't feel complete without it.

Babystep #9 - Magnesium supplements - James needed the inhaler when RSV went through the house. I was able to use Mucinex and sinus rinses and forgo the inhaler.

Babystep #10 - Sourdough starter - I reduced it to one starter after holidays but then my one starter fizzled out for some reason. Will be getting one started back up shortly.

Babystep #11 - Drink water first thing in the morning.

Babystep #12 - Work on creating a natural bath set for the children  - The soap savers are working great!

Babystep #13 - Menu planning each week - I am actually emptying the fridge throughout the week. Every meal has been planned. Extras go in the freezer and very little ruins in the back of the fridge. Once shopping day comes, my drawers are emptied and ready for fresh meat and veggies. 

Babystep #14 - Exercise daily - One of the productivity recommendations is to Eat the Frog. It comes from the idea that if you ate a frog in the morning, everything else would be easy after that. Your frog is the hardest thing for you to do. Exercise is the hardest thing for me to follow through with but I want to be productive so my frog is getting to the gym or on the Wii Fit. I must eat it before breakfast.

Babystep #15 - Glucosamine for arthritis - We've had some major Artic chill. I have had no joint pain and my husband has had minimal. 

Babystep #16 - Homemade yogurt

Babystep #17 - Avoid food dyes

Babystep #18 - Fresh and frozen over canned veggies - My pantry looks a little strange and we've gone through bags of carrots like never before. Looking forward to summer and the farmers market.

Babystep #19 - Be calm

Babystep #20 - Enzymes

Babystep #21 - Avoid MSG

Babystep #22 - use sinus rinses proactively  Especially after vacuuming or any decluttering project. Dust is my nemesis. I clean, get sick, don't clean, dust piles up more, get worse next time I clean, etc. It's a vicious cycle. Working on cleaning regularly and minimizing clutter but dust is really hard to escape. Looking at getting a face mask for when I clean like Nony. 

Babystep #23 - Extra Vit C and Vit D3 during flu season

Babystep #24 - Gluten free pasta

Babystep #25 - Ditch the table salt - Making soup every week and cooking with whole foods is really making us go through the salt faster. Not much has been preseasoned so I need to add adequate seasoning and sodium is required for our bodies. But the chemically processed stuff in the stores isn't very healthy. After reading some on different salts, I learned sea salt is misleading because every salt is the result of a sea at one point of time or another. Although I do like my Celtic sea salt especially for Salted Caramel Mochas. The color is apparently what indicates the mineral content. I found some dark pink Himalayan salt on Amazon and it came in the mail today. It can have up to 84 trace minerals and elements. Very fascinating!

$100 grocery challenge - Week 2

I did not have to make any extra trips to the grocery store this past week. I shopped on Sunday last week and 3 gallons of milk fit in the fridge and lasted until Friday. Since I'm shopping on Friday, there may be a milk run later next week.

This morning, I checked for meat sales at Winn Dixie and Publix but to be honest, I really didn't have time for multiple stores and nothing was impressively marked-down anyhow. So I asked my husband what he was in the mood to eat this next week. He wanted BBQ and pizza. Wednesday is our regular pizza night. I decided to look for something to BBQ in the slow cooker.

I went to Walmart because my husband had to be work in 2 hours so I needed to get done and get home. I found some beef back ribs to make beef stew and a pork shoulder for BBQ.

I price-matched red delicious apples for $.79 per pound. That was a 50% savings.

Since I got apples this week, I decided to continue the citrus habit and get orange juice with calcium. That may help make the milk last til Friday.

I need a new batch of yogurt so I got Horizon's organic whole milk with extra DHA.

I was so proud of my shopping cart. If I had time, I would have taken a picture. I had shopped the perimeter of the store except for BBQ sauce, cereal and Tinkyada pasta. I am so grateful for the idea of babysteps. Shopping the perimeter seemed so hard just a few months ago. Now it seems only natural way to do things. I even contemplated finding a BBQ sauce recipe so I could skip that next time.

My menu this week

Saturday - Turkey Dressing and Sweet Potato Casserole
Sunday - BBQ, Baked Beans and Apple Cake
Monday - Beef Stew
Tuesday - Full breakfast for supper - Eggs, Sausage, Biscuits, Fried apples, Grits and Fall plum jelly
Wednesday - Pizza
Thursday - Red Beans and Rice w/cornbread
Friday - Crabby Patties (Salmon croquettes), Mac and cheese and biscuits.

This menu cost just $133. Still well under $25 per person. I am loving this challenge.

You mean you're still celebrating Christmas?

I did keep the Christmas tree up. It is still rather sparse with ornaments (a few were broken this year) but I've enjoyed the lights. We've enjoyed continued Christmas music and movies.

After spending four weeks preparing our hearts for His coming anew, the actual Christmas season seems rather short if you don't take it at least to the celebration of Epiphany when the wise men came. Some mark the end as January 1st with the end of the Christmas Octave. Some mark the end with Epiphany and the completion of the 12 days of Christmas.

I am intrigued by the significance of the 40 days of celebration of the Presentation of our Lord on February 2nd. This culminates 3 epiphanies. Jesus was revealed to the shepherds, then the wise men and then to Anna and Simeon at the temple. The numbers 3 and 40 are very important in the Judeo-Christian world with 3 being the number of the Trinity and the days in the tomb. The number 40 reminds us of the days of rain for Noah and the number of days that Jesus was tempted in the dessert.

As a Catholic convert, I'm still learning the different traditions and how we want to celebrate them as a family. But there is a practical reasoning for extending the celebration of Christmas. January is well-known for seeming to be the most depressing time of the year. It's cold, dreary and we're crashing after all the festivities of December. I wonder if establishing a tradition of extended Christmas celebration would help protect my children and future generations from the susceptibility of depression in these winter months.

To be honest, I'm not sure what exactly I want the extended Christmas season to look like except for more Christmas music, movies and joy. That is the key. Find ways to extend the Joy of Christmas. Don't rush back to ordinary life quite so quickly. I think next year, I want more emphasis on St Nicholas Day and Epiphany for gift-giving and more emphasis on Jesus for Christmas Day.

The tree is probably coming down this weekend. I'm ready for the fresh start of the year. But I'm making notes in my planner for next December and January. It may be a long process with layers of tradition added each year. But for now, I feel joyful and that's enough reason for me to keep the celebration of Christmas extended well into January.

$100 grocery challenge - Week 1

I accepted Meet Penny's challenge to spend $25 per person per week for everything from groceries to diapers to soap and toothpaste. So for my family, it ends up being $175 a week. But guess what, I came in under $100!

The grand total for week 1 is $93.50. The two things that helped keep this total so low was Santa Claus bringing new undies in stockings so we are using less diapers. I didn't need diapers or wipes or meat (other than pepperoni). I had two packs of smoked sausage left over from last week. And no I didn't go way over last week to skew the numbers. Last week's grocery total was $170. I also had a 19 lb turkey that needed to be used.

So I used the sausage in White Bean and Kale soup on Sunday and Breakfast Burritos on Monday. Today, I'm cooking the turkey in my huge slow cooker. Tonight I will pull all the meat off the turkey after supper. The bones will go back into the slow cooker for bone broth. The meat will be divided into three parts. One part will be for lunches. One part will be for soup. The last part will be for cornbread dressing. I will make pizza on Wednesday and blender pancakes on Friday to break up the turkey meals. With such a big turkey, I should be able to end up with two gallons of soup and two pans of cornbread dressing. This will give me freezer meals that I am stocking up on for sick days and busy days out when the weather warms up.

My grocery budget went to frozen and fresh veggies for the soup and sides for the turkey, cheese for mac and cheese and pizza, pepperoni, fruit for breakfast and snacks, 3 gallons of milk, and a few things like bay leaves and children's ibuprofen that we had run out of.

I'm sure next week I will not be able to come under so low but it was really excited to start off strong.

The Flow

A woman was telling me about her current organizational challenge and if she could just get that straight, maybe everything would stay that way. But I've learned that is a myth. Nothing stays in order without maintenance. Even if you're single and living alone, dust still collects and things must be put back where they belong. With kids, it's never-ending. The maintenance that is consistent takes less and less time but consistency is the key.

I think we are in this desperate search for "the flow." This mysterious place where everything is easy. Sounds great in theory. If only we can declutter, organize, plan enough to get to that place. But is that really where we want to be?

My exercise routine was sporadic last year but I did go enough to strengthen my muscles. So much so that I needed to up my weights to feel any resistance. I thought about how we don't want easy in exercise. The burn and the occasional soreness is a sign that our muscles are rebuilding to be stronger. What if we applied that same logic to other areas of our lives?

Now, I'm all for working smarter and not harder. I also don't think we should make things unnecessarily difficult. But what if we applied the consistency and ever-increasing difficulty of exercise to other areas of life? Faith? Homeschooling? Homemaking? Hobbies? Fellowship? Parenting? What if searching for the easy way has resulted in flabby characters, minds and souls?

I wonder.

So how do we up the ante in these other areas? Establish a new habit. Expand an existing habit. Learn a new skill. Get out of our comfort zones. Feel the burn.

If we discount "the flow" as a mythical and undesirable place, does that change the attitude with which we tackle the work of today? Work that is necessary. Work that will be there 10, 20, or 30 years down the road although in a more efficient pattern as we grow stronger. Would I feel less defeated when things don't go as perfectly as I think they should? After all, I have a lifetime to make it better.

Severe weather center

Our home has a central hallway protected by rooms on all sides so that is where we stay during storms. In 2014, we had a very close call. Severe storms with a tornado path went so close to us that our next door neighbor had roof damage and three doors down, a huge hardwood was uprooted. We heard it on top of us. But we had allowed our children to "camp out" in our hallway in sleeping bags. They thought it was cool and slept right through it.

Our hallway is wide so I have some bookshelves near the entrance. I decided to turn one into a severe weather center since we are expecting possible severe weather today. A place to have access to what we might need if part of the house was damaged and made inaccessible. Having our supplies scattered won't help us in that situation.

Four of the children have helmets. This is a very simple way of protecting heads from debris.

I included our weather radio that can also work on battery power. I added extra batteries to the shopping list.

I included all the elements for a tea light heater which can serve as both heat and light. I made a mason jar match holder with a sandpaper lid for striking. This will keep the children from strewing matches up and down the hallway if they were in a traditional match box. .

This evening, if the threat is still high, I will let the children camp in the hallway. I'll also grab some snacks and juice boxes to keep in the severe weather center for the night. My kids really are trustworthy but no reason to tempt them by having them in arms reach all the time.

Stay safe, everyone!

PRAYER FOR PROTECTION IN A TIME OF STORM OR DANGER 

Lord and Holy Protector,like the disciples who were caught in their tiny boat in the midst of a mighty storm,

We come to beg Your Help. 
        
We are fearful as we are surrounded by danger.

We feel helpless and small before the great power of this storm which is beyond our control. 
 
While everything seems dark and dangerous, we place our trust in You, our Lord and God. 
 
Sheltered here in our home, we are also shielded by Your Love against all that might harm us. 

We know that You hear all prayers; so we now, filled with confidence, lift up our petitions to You, our God. 

 (silent prayer) 

Lord, we fear for our home, for our lives and for all we hold dear. 

Your Sacred Blessing is upon this home and upon each of us as well. 

We are secure in the power of that blessing. 

May the saving power of the Cross of Your Son, Jesus, encircle us and our home. 

May all evil, all harm and injury, be repelled by that Sacred Sign of the Cross. 

May the light of this candle be for us a holy sign of Your Divine Presence that fills our home in the midst of this danger. 

Lord and Creator of Storms and of Rainbows, be with us in this time of danger. 

Amen +

My time budget

We all have 24 hours in a day. No one gets any more or any less. It's easy to blame our time constraints on the demands of others. But I resolve to take responsibility for my time and make it work for me.

Sleep - 7.5 hours

Sleep is the largest chunk of time unless you work an outside job. Even then, work tasks can be divided up into different categories of time. I have been trying out different wake-up times and I've discovered that I do so much better in alertness with 6 hours of sleep plus 2-3 power naps than I do with 8 hours of sleep. If I've had an especially busy day, I'll get a quick power nap after supper before I tackle the kitchen cleanup and bed time routine.

Homeschooling - 2.5 hours for older boys, 1 hour for the little ones.

This will be the time for active teaching and instruction. There are many activities and assignments that they can each do independently.

Cleaning - 3 hours

I will spend 1 hour in the morning, 30 minutes after lunch, 1 hour in the afternoon and 30 minutes after supper. For some, it might make better sense to lump all the cleaning time together and get it done with. But with little ones that can wreck havoc in no time, I think spreading out the tasks will keep things under control more often. The children will be expected to help for 30 minutes in the morning, 30 minutes after lunch and 1 hour in the afternoon.

Meals - 2 hours

Self-explanatory

Crafts - 2 hours

This may seem like a large chunk of time for crafts but I get 2 hours most days just waiting for the boys in taekwondo. There's also dr appt waiting times. And I usually have some sort of project that I work on while watching tv. My goal is to start an Etsy shop with 10 products by the end of the month.

Faith - 1 hour

I like making this a solid hour although it may be divided into half with family devotions and personal prayer and study. It reminds me of the recommendation of the priest from the DVD Common Ground that I watched during or before RCIA. It comes from Matthew 26:40-41.

 And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour?41 Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Exercise - 1 hour

My exercise routine usually takes 40-45 minutes but I am making it an hour to include travel to and from the gym. I am shooting for Monday through Friday and scheduling it at a time when my kids are asleep and my husband is home. No excuses! I will keep the same time for Saturday and Sunday and use it for grocery shopping.

My goal is going to be to work out at least 250 days in 2015. That leaves weekends free and a little wiggle room for certain times of the month and colds. I do like the feeling after exercise but I still have a hard time making myself get started. I need a good reward. I don't care for shopping and I don't need food rewards. So I'm thinking a little more long-term. If I meet my goal, I will reward myself with an embroidery machine in 2016. With 5 kids, the opportunity to monogram is endless.

Cooking - 1 hour

Breakfast is a eat-what-you-want buffet of fruit, cereal, grits, oatmeal, baked sweet potatoes, and eggs. Nothing takes a great deal of time so I fix what is needed as I clean and prep in the kitchen. Lunch is leftovers so a simple reheat. I may have 15 minutes of prep in the morning and 45 minutes of actually cooking in the evening.

Planning - 1 hour

This time will probably be during taekwondo or early in the morning before the kids are up. There are lots of things to plan for like preschool and homeschool lessons, menus, crafts (for me and the kids), better organization solutions, activities, celebrations, etc.

Couple time - 1 hour

Our lives are so busy with family and work that we can neglect each other. Every day may not go perfectly but an hour is there to talk and connect. Even if kids interrupt and all we do is watch a show while waiting for them to doze, it's still time together. By making an hour devoted to each other, we make each other a priority.

Grooming - 30 minutes

Time to shower, fix hair, moisturize, apply makeup, clip nails, etc. I have a tendency to forget my vitamins in the morning so I include that in my time.

Travel and prep - 30 minutes

Mainly to and from taekwondo.

*************************************
That's 24 hours.

This is a basic Monday-Friday schedule. Some activities like grooming, cooking, meals and faith will carry over into the weekend. Saturday will be for fun, activities and deep cleaning projects. Sunday will be for worship, rest and family fun.

Focus for 2015

My resolution for 2014 was to slow down. Not try to rush through everything to get to the next thing. It isn't very easy to measure success on a non-specific goal such as this. But I think I have learned how to slow down more and take things a bit at a time. I'm learning to say no to some things. Just because we could do it, doesn't mean we should and end up rushing from one thing to the next. I find that I'm allowing more time to get ready for events and we're not rushing around like loons.

It really isn't a resolution but a focus. A general goal in how to spend our time. For 2015, I want to expand a little bit on time. I have been amazed at the feeling towards my thirty minutes in the morning for myself. I have plenty of time to do what I need. I find myself with extra minutes, a luxury that I wasn't aware that I could have. The clock is working for me. I'm not racing against it in a race that I can't win.

So my focus for 2015 is to spend time deliberately. Assign each minute with how it is to be spent just as you would each dollar. Keep my tasks that need the most alert attention at the times I am most alert. Then when it is time to rest and leisure, partake without guilt.  Keep at a task for the allotted time so that I am digging deeper into my abilities and creativity. Give my children the fullness of my attention in the time that I devote to them.

With five children and activities that vary from day to day, a strict daily plan won't work. But I can be reminded at ever half hour to plan for the next thirty minutes. I can have a general outline of how my day will be spent. Taekwondo times change daily but I know that from 4-7pm is the time for supper and taekwondo. I may do laundry most days at a particular time but one day may require that I spend that time cuddling with a baby toddler or coloring with a preschooler or disinfecting with gusto. Plan the time and make it work for me rather than the other way around.

I also have to be aware of extra minutes like when waiting on the children when they are in taekwondo class or waiting at the dr office. Keep tasks of planning, correspondence or knitting/crocheting to use those minutes deliberately as well. We only get one life so let's get the most out of it.

Focus for 2015

Spend time deliberately

Planning ahead

The next three months are fairly dull compared to the rest of the year. We do have James and John Micah's birthdays. And a snow day would be exciting for us Southerners. But all in all, it's too cold to do much besides stay at home.

So why not use that to my advantage? When warm weather returns, we're going to be heading to the park and museum/zoo trips. It will be harder for me to cook every night. But right now, it's a great thing to cook more and help heat the house. So I'm committing to cooking one extra meal each week for the freezer.

Last week, I doubled my batch of cornbread chicken dressing. Last night, I made a huge batch of bone broth chicken soup and put a 5 quart ice cream bucket full in the freezer. These could be available if I got sick and needed a pre-made meal. Or saved for warm weather when I might be gone all day with the children.

$100 grocery challenge
Meet Penny has a great idea for keeping us on track with our budget for 2015. Her budget for groceries, cleaning supplies, toiletries and such equals to $25 per person. For our family of 7, that would be $175. I'm going to join in on that challenge.

I plan to use bulk purchasing to keep my budget in line. I want to use my menu rotations to calculate what I need for a year and purchase at the lowest price point. I will need 25 lbs each of white, red and black beans. I would like to get some buckets to store beans, oats and such.

Grocery stores have cycles throughout the year on what goes on sale. Here's a list. Loss leaders can be used to our advantage.

I don't think I'll be using many coupons. Most coupons are for processed foods. But they can be used strategically for health and beauty products at CVS along with Extra Care Bucks. I do get some meat coupons for Winn Dixie in the mail. Target also has coupons for meat and produce.

Keeping my cleaning simple with borax, baking soda, vinegar and dish detergent.

Stocked up on diapers right now and using less and less as the children grow. Hopefully there will be very little of the budget going to diapers in 2015. We feel a little richer already!

Organizing crochet/knit supplies

To get started, all you really need are a hook or needles and a ball of yarn. But after a while, the accessories start to add up.

• stitch markers
• needle guages
• yarn needles
• cable needles
• scissors
• different sizes of hooks and needles
• bobbins
• stitch holders

I claimed a stash on a freecycle-type group. This lady's stash contained some things that I don't know that I'll ever even use but I have it if I need it. But all this stuff has to be in an accessible place to be useful. It does no good if I can't find it.

I used a Lancome makeup bag. I also found two little organizers (probably for beads or something similar) at a consignment sale. I can organize all the yarn needles, bobbins, stitch markers and such and still have room behind the organizers for hooks, double pointed needles, scissors and more. 

This provides a place for the children to find what they need for their yarn crafts and a place to put things back so that we aren't losing things that we need on a regular basis. It's compact and easy to grab and carry with me.






Joseph is pointing to give you an idea of how small and compact it is. Staying organized means that I can easily carry projects on the go and more projects actually get finished. How do you organize your supplies?

To GAPS or not to GAPS

I have wrestled with whether or not to start the diet in January as planned. Part of me feels like we need a stricter diet. But I had no idea how effective some of the babysteps would be. I didn't expect to be feeling any better. I was just trying to get used to the way of cooking so that I wouldn't crash and burn with the GAPS diet. What I'm finding that is working for us is going to be real close to the GAPS diet so I'll probably be using a lot of those recipes.

I wanted a healthier diet so that we could fight off colds better. I've had a cold for several days. But it's been incredibly mild as long as I drink my kefir and ginger tea (2x a day). If I miss my ginger tea, like during the busyness of Christmas Eve then the symptoms return. I felt rough Christmas morning. But ginger tea with raw honey and I was able to cook Christmas dinner. I have to remember that just because the symptoms go away, doesn't mean that my body doesn't need extra support. I should probably plan on doubling up on the ginger tea for a week after a cold.

I've accomplished the goal that I set out for. I wanted us to get sick less often and with less severity. We're still gonna get exposed to germs. Especially with young children in the house. But we've got better ways of coping with it so that they don't become bacterial infections or crud that drags on for weeks.

I had an IBS attack before Christmas. It went on for several days before I could get back on track. In trying to figure out what had triggered it and what else I could do to stop it, I read about how GAPS can actually slow metabolism. That's the last thing that I need. I've found that what I am doing now has sped up my metabolism. I've even lost a couple pounds over the holidays. Crazy! It's even affecting how my husband and I react to medicine. We have taken zyrtec regularly without it affecting our ability to function. Now if we take it, it is like a tranquilizer and we could just sleep for days if that was an option.

But that was the information that finally made the decision certain. We won't be going through the GAPS intro diet in January. The babysteps are working so I will just continue with them to keep replacing what I use with a more nutritious and less-processed alternative. Opt out of the 2 yr diet for a complete lifestyle change.

Babystep #24 - Gluten-free pasta

I forgot to include how I did the parsnips in yesterday's posts. I've roasted them with olive oil, salt and pepper before. This time, I put a bit of coconut oil in my hand and rubbed it all over the parsnips then seasoned with salt and pepper. The coconut oil paired really well with the sweetness of the parsnips.

I'm discovering how quickly I can get a healthy meal on the table when the decisions are already made. Christmas Eve, we had a busy afternoon of baths, painting nails, costumes and Mass. I knew I had some leftover chicken cornbread dressing but it needed a side. So I would steam some brussel sprouts and season with salt, pepper and a couple pats of butter. I had supper on the table in less than 15 minutes. Chicken nuggets and fries and pizza are not even that fast.

The good decisions come when we make the decision ahead of time instead of when we're short on time. A couple weeks ago, I was cleaning out the pantry and used up a couple boxes of wheat pasta. Pasta is third on the things that make me feel the worst behind cauliflower and fast food milkshakes. So why did I have wheat pasta in my pantry? I know that Tinkyada pasta is gluten free and delicious. We can even get it at Walmart. But I get in the store and I'm thinking of how to get the most bang for my buck. I can't justify in that moment spending a couple dollars more on pasta when I'm not being strictly gluten free anyhow.

I shopped at Target last week and they didn't have Tinkyada so I got Ronzoni Gluten free for the homemade mac and cheese. It's a suitable alternative. So I'm going to use brand loyalty to help keep the good decision consistent. From here on out, it's Tinkyada or Ronzoni gluten free pasta.

I learned something interesting on Amazon. The price of Tinkyada varies by shape.




But the spirals here are only $28.20. Spirals work fine with spaghetti and mac and cheese. In the earlier days of gluten free when products were not so accessible, spirals might be all you could find. I'm not hung up on a particular shape especially when there is a 10-20 dollar difference in the price of a box of 12. Even cheaper when you use Subscribe and Save.

I'm reducing the amount of italian pasta dishes that we eat. I like my predictable weekly schedule and there isn't an italian night. I can make lasagna occasionally on Sunday and use roasted veggies like eggplant and squashes instead of noodles. However, I will need pasta for mac and cheese to go with salmon or ham. A box of 12 should last about 3 months.

Tis' the day after Christmas

Tis' the day after Christmas, and all through the house
The children played with new toys and wore new clothes
Mom wondered if it would be a crime to take down the
tree before Epiphany. Not that many ornaments remained
on it anyhow. One battling a tummy ache from the sugar consumed.
One battling a cold but much milder thanks to ginger tea and kefir.

Enough of that. I'm definitely not a poet. But the day after Christmas is a bit of a lazy day with lots of play and a few chores to get all the boxes and wrapping paper out the door and find places for their new treasures. I've already done a load of dishes this morning and I still have more to do.

We did have a great Christmas. Christmas Eve mass was such a treat. James was Joseph. He received a compliment of being so polite. David was a wise man. He carried the wine which of course made me very nervous but he did great! Katie Rose was a beautiful angel but chickened out. I knew it was a long shot. But seeing her participating in the practices was definitely a step forward. John Micah was the one and only sheep. He was precious. Joseph slept through it all.



Christmas Day was full of gifts and good food. My husband was thrilled with the menu for Christmas dinner with ham, homemade mac and cheese, parsnips, green beans and sourdough biscuits. All his favorites. I wish I could say that I was a fabulous wife and planned it that with that purpose but it just fell together with what I had on hand and noticed on my grocery shopping trip. It was such a hit that I might just make it the standard Christmas dinner at our house.

I had great plans for dessert with a pomegranate cake. Unfortunately, my mixer decided Christmas was a great time to go on the fritz. It looked like a Pinterest fail for sure. If I did it again, I think that I would simplify it and make it in a bundt pan. Put the pomegranate topping in the middle and frost the outside. But to be honest, I think I should probably stick to what I do best which is heartier cakes like carrot and apple. Those I do really well. Anyhow, I piped Jesus' name on the top and we sang Happy Birthday.

I'm using this post-Christmas Day time to make some notes on what I would like to do next year. I would really like to do new pajamas as a Christmas Eve tradition. I want to include an Our Lady of Guadelupe Tea along with our Jesse Tea. I never have chocolate angels because I can't find them. I'll keep a list for ordering some items especially more gluten-free options for next year. I would like to have a Happy Birthday Jesus party with a real gift for Jesus.

My mom gave me a Thomas Kinkade planner for Christmas. It fits well and matches my purse. I love it. So while all the ideas for Christmas are still fresh. I'm going ahead and scheduling the family celebrations for next December. I've also made a list in notes for Jesse Tea ornaments so I can be searching for ideas throughout the year.



I'm starting lists in my Cozi app for each child of ideas for birthday and Christmas gifts to look for and make throughout the year. I would worry about them opening my planner but Cozi is a little harder to get into. I have several ideas that I need to gather materials for and having the lists with me all the time will allow me to find the things I need throughout the year.

Merry Christmas

Picture collage personalized with Smilebox

Mending challenge - Rearranging buttons

Some mending tasks require a little bit of thought into how to make it work with what you have. This coat for my daughter is so very soft and nice. The lining is her favorite color. But the buttons and snaps were a mess. Only the top button and snap was intact. The second was missing the button and the last two were missing the snaps. I found the third snap so I decided to move the top button to the second and the top snap to the bottom and reattach the third snap. I would end up with three buttons and snaps instead of four.

I could have looked for new buttons to match or bought new buttons to replace these but where's the fun in that? I prefer to try to figure out how I can make do with what I have.

So I got started. They really weren't too hard to reattach. The pattern made it easy to hide the black thread that I was using. And then I heard some clanking while I was working.






Sometimes, you just get lucky! In the pocket of the coat was the missing snap and the missing button. Plus an extra button! I squealed and James thought I had gone crazy. So I added the extra button to my mending kit. And now I have four buttons and four snaps. The second snap was loose so I reinforced it as well. My model was wiggly but she was tickled with it. She doesn't have tiny arms....that's just her little brother in the background.

I also put on the new patches on the Lowe's Build and Grow aprons yesterday. I added a crochet belt to the top of my son's Joseph costume to replace the gold ribbon that fell off. Looking forward to the Christmas eve Children's liturgy. They're all gonna be so cute!

It's a wonderful life

One of our holiday traditions is to watch Christmas movies. Our favorite is The First Noel narrated by Andy Griffith. I love it's rhythmic narration with bits of Christmas Carols. It just wouldn't be Christmas for us without it. We don't even have a DVD player working in the house so we put it in the van to watch on the portable DVD player on trips and while waiting on the boys in taekwondo class. 

Mike and I also watched It's a Wonderful Life. Not so much an every year tradition but I do enjoy when I catch it on. I can relate to George Bailey and I imagine most people can on some level. We all make mistakes. We all have weaknesses. And it's so much easier to focus on them than our strengths and successes. Have we tipped the scale so that there is more good than bad? Does God see people as good and bad?

Now of course, God will judge our lives at the end of time so I don't want to diminish that truth in the least. But I wondered if God simply sees us as the creatures made in His image. What if we saw only creatures made in the image of God? I think we have a tendency to divide people into the prodigal sons and faithful sons. When in truth, we're all a little of both. 

I think our mistakes can become a little glorified in light of the story of the Prodigal son. Those who attempt to live in righteousness are often belittled as the faithful son. When I went for my first confession, the priest asked me to reread this passage and see myself as the prodigal son receiving the welcoming of The Father. In truth, we all run from God in every occasion that we fall into sin. And we all risk falling into a rut of doing the right things until we're no longer doing them out of love but out of a desire to be blessed with the Father's riches. But we're His children. Child of the King. Princes and princesses. The inheritance is already ours. 

My husband has chastised me on occasion when I have started the negative self talk. I can't seem to accept a compliment without first pointing out a flaw. It's a bad habit. I'm getting better about not speaking even if I still think something negative. In honor of George Bailey's character, I resolve to believe that the world would be a much different place without me (and you) in it. As for my faults, if it's a sin then confess it and accept forgiveness. If it's a mistake, give myself a little grace because no one is perfect. If it's something that happens over and over again, seek counsel and brainstorm for ideas to keep it from happening habitually. 

But never doubt your worth! We are made in the image of God. If for no other reason than that, we should treat ourselves and others with respect. 

Christmas gift ideas - museum gift baskets

Our family enjoys museums. We had a membership to McWane Science center and the boys have been asking for us to renew it. We went to the Anniston museums on Museum Day. But these museums are too close together to reciprocate. If we get a membership at the Huntsville Space and Rocket Museum, then we get to go to all the local museums and more. Awesome deal!

So this is our family gift. But what fun is it to just get a membership card? So I decided to make travel kits. I got crayons, busy books, stationary kits, etc that are either wrapped or in their stockings. In thinking of what we would need for our museum trips, I knew the thing of importance for the older boys would be the snacks and drinks. So why not buy drink boxes, snacks and candy and divide it up so each child has their own?

I found 4 sturdy black crates at Dirt Cheap and used a basket I already had on hand for Joseph. I got everything else at Walmart.

• trail mix
• raisins
• craisins
• apple juice boxes (I get the Mott's for Tots because we usually dilute our apple juice with water anyhow)
• Veggie Chips
• Snickers
• Smarties
• Water flavoring
• squeeze applesauce
• yogurt melts for the baby

There are also marshmallow Santas, Hershey Kisses and candy canes in their stockings so hopefully they can resist digging into their snacks before we head to Huntsville. My husband has his doubts. But I think the anticipation of packing up their own bag will be a real treat for them. 

Just a few more gifts to wrap and one soap saver to finish up and we'll be ready!

Random thoughts

The highlight of my week was in Barnes and Nobles this Saturday. Katie Rose had attached to a stuffed kitty. I told her that we couldn't get that today. She needed to put it back. She retorted, "No!" I was planning of tossing it and racing for the door in anticipation of an almost certain meltdown. I pushed the stroller forward and called for her brother from the Duplo table. She said, "I can't reach!" I pushed the double stroller a few more inches. She placed the kitty back where she found it without a whimper. I was so proud of her. I praised her for being such a big girl. Santa may just have to add that to her stocking.

I just bought the older boys new shoes this spring in suitable size 4 and 5. Today I had to buy size 6 and 7 shoes. That's two sizes in barely more than half a year. Gracious! Talk about some growth spurts!

Forget about the toys. The best plaything for a toddler is a Tide pods container. John Micah and Joseph have had the best time tossing and kicking it around the kitchen. It is light. Doesn't hurt anyone. And best of all (from the toddler's point of view), makes lots of noise.

We visited Santa this week. Katie Rose jumped up and down with excitement and talked to Santa which is really unlike her. She is normally so shy. We kept asking her what she wanted for Christmas but after trying to explain that it was about a toy or want, she kept saying angel. She will be an angel in the Christmas pageant this year.

David is developing such a sense of humor. We saw a neat chair at Dirt Cheap. It was round but missing the cushion with bungie-cord-like-back to it. But it was pink. James sat down in it to show how it worked. David said, "you look good in that!" I was tickled with how quickly and dryly he can pick on his brother. 

Gonna have to be extra nice to James next week cause we did pick on him this week. He was reading aloud in monotone and I was trying to explain that we needed inflection and character voices. He started pouting and fussed over 2 had's. I explained that it was one "had" as in the past and another "had" as in possession. As in "James had had a good sense of humor." James claimed it wasn't funny but he laughed right along with us. 

David loved The Charlie Brown Christmas special. He giggled through the whole show. I wonder if kids really hear adults in the mumbled voice like on Peanuts. That would really explain a lot. 

I can't believe Christmas is Thursday. Just doesn't seem possible. Still have shopping to wrap up. Just don't seem have enough (safe) hiding places for five kids. The older boys question whether Santa is real. I use my grandmother's response that if you don't believe, you might not get anything. My aunt said they continued to pretend long after they knew the truth. I add that Santa is a legend based on a very real man, St Nicholas of Myra. Anyone who gives a gift in secret participates in that legend. And Santa has lots of helpers!

Getting ready! The King is coming!