Uninspired

I am laying here with my foot up and my laptop feeling uninspired.

I cannot find anything good to read, nothing in my to be read pile catches my interest, which is kind of shocking. I read through bloglines half-heartedly, and was somewhat comforted to see that life at My Quiet Corner was not off to a raring start to the week, and then felt bad about that. I read the news and just got mad, so that did not help.

Then I wondered why, with all the marvels of modern medicine, the only pain reliever they give pregnant women is Tylenol and ice. I have news for them: IT DOES NOT WORK!!!!! I am wondering if there is a medication and they just withhold it to be mean, some kind of weird experiment to see if pregnant women can handle more pain that some other subset of people. Probably far fetched, but when I woke up in fiery pain last night I was seriously wondering. I was also wondering if they could possibly make the ugly shoe they gave me any nicer, because really, it just does not cheer me up to look at that.

Sigh.

I am also wondering why my foot hurts more when it gets hot that when it is cool. Freaky but true.

I guess what I am saying is it has been a long weekend, and I think today will be long too.

But I cling the facts that:

• I fell on my back, not my front, baby is safe
• God has answered my prayers on numerous occasions to bring pain relief
• You can now measure the bull nose of one step to another my simply measuring the bruises on my back - how weird is that?
• I have a neighbor who offered to do all my grocery shopping for us.
• My garden is all planted
• Serious medical intervention was not required.
• The Lord is good, always.

In other news, I have pictures on the camera of our fruit trees, and I will try to show you those this week. Our backyard smells wonderful as everything is in bloom!

Updated to add: I am thankful to be able to take the "beauty boot" off for resting, I really only need it for walking so that the offending toe is protected. Great name for the shoe Jen, I love it! Definitely helps the perspective!

Just a bit of excitement....

So last night, actually it was not even 7 yet, I decided to go downstairs for a glass of water. Even though I can currently drink water by the bucket I try to be classy.

There was no problem with this until I somehow or other missed the bottom 4 steps and landed flat on my back on the steps and slid the rest of the way down. While my back hurt, and my hip hurt, my little toe was screaming. So off to Urgent Care we go!

Might I say that I have never been in and out of Urgent Care in less that 45 minutes until last night? That includes filling out the new patient paperwork!

The doctor was great, declaring my back and hip in fine shape. The toe, however, is another story. It was at a slightly weird angle, not enough to need to be set, but enough to make it clear that all was not well. The doctor opted not to x-ray it because the treatment would be the same for a break or sprain (although he was very certain it was broken), so he buddy taped it to its next door neighbor, gave me a highly fashionable navy shoe, and told me that all I could have for pain was Tylenol and ice.

I liked him right up until that last point. Then, well, not so much.

So today I am sitting here with my foot propped up, and am watching some lovely shades of blue appear on my toe. It is not the best day, but my sweet husband stayed home to take care of us. He has had a tough morning of playing stickers with Miss Pear and bringing me ice. He is such a sweetie!

Pizza Casserole

I was able to make this delicious meal straight from the pantry (which I stock with sales) except for the red peppers (2 for $0.33), pepperoni which was purchased on sale and stashed in the freezer, and onions that were a big bag of about 8 to 10 for well under $1. So this recipe ended up being quick, easy and frugal for me, so I thought I would share!

Pizza Casserole

1 1/2 cups pepperoni
2 tsp butter
1 medium onion chopped
15 oz can of tomato sauce
1 can of mushroom pieces drained (I am the only mushroom lover in our home, so I substitute 2 chopped sweet peppers)
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
2 cups tiny shell pasta
3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (yes, second amount).

Place pepperoni in 1 and a half cups water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 4-5 minutes, drain (this takes a lot of grease out, so don't skip it).

Melt margarine in saute pan, ad onion, saute until soft. Add tomato sauce, mushrooms, sweet peppers if you are using them, oregano and basil. Stir, remove from heat.

Cook pasta per al dente directions. Drain, turn into 3L casserole (I use 9x13), add parmesan cheese and toss well.

Sprinkle with first amount of mozzarella cheese (or toss this in with the parmesan cheese).

Scatter pepperoni sauces over top.

Cover with tomato-onion sauce.

Sprinkle final cheese amount over top.

Bake, uncovered at 350F for about 30 minutes until bubbly and lightly browned.


To make ahead up to 24 hours in advance, prepare casserole (do not bake), cover, and chill. To serve, bake as above.

To freeze, cover unbaked casserole, label. Freeze up to 2 months. To serve, thaw and bake as above.

Baby Peaches

One of the many things we have thought about when planting our backyard out is what we love to eat and what we can grow here. We all love peaches - especially if they find their way into a pie with some ice cream on top! So when we discovered that peaches would indeed fruit here, and were available in a dwarf variety, we were thrilled! We planted a honey peach, and were assured that the fruit would live up to the name.

If you look carefully at the pictures below you might be able to see baby peaches - they are green and look a bit out of focus because of the peach fuzz.....



Could you see them?

Being INhospitable...to germs, again

I am not really sure what the scoop is, but Miss Pear is under the weather and stuffy. Not a full blown cold, just enough to make her cranky and forget how to listen. I was suspicious all day yesterday that she was sick, and it was confirmed last night, at bed time, when she did not fall asleep until 11PM!!!!! We turned her lights off at 7:30 ish, and she just laid there and chatted to herself and her stuffed animal. Do we have the only child in the world who cannot fall asleep at bedtime when she is sick? And then still gets up at her normal time????

I tell ya, I could have inhaled a pot of coffee straight from the carafe today had it not be for the fact that I am pregnant.

We even took Miss Pear outside after supper to play in the backyard and burn off energy while I planted the last of the garden (woo hoo! although now I think I have found a place to plant some thyme, oregano, lavender, and possibly chamomile), and do some weeding with a handy tool that lets you stand up and do the work. Maybe I should have had Miss Pear do the weeding??? (just kidding).

So, I think I will go nap now.

Gardening for Dummies

At least, that is my level of gardening. I have grown roses with great success in our old home, but here I was determined to have a vegetable garden. So this is my first year of full fledged gardening (even though I did get a few meager tomatoes, carrots and lettuce last year).

So when I read Amy's post this week about her gardening research, I was thrilled! Not only because she confessed to having a black thumb, but because after a year that did not quite meet her expectations she was willing to try again.

When we moved last year I did try to plant some seeds, but by the time we fixed the irrigation issue it was simply too hot and too late in the season to be successful. I was disappointed, but determined to try again.

So far this year I have planted green beans, yellow beans, two kinds of carrots (the first of three mini rows of each), and a lettuce mix (again, the first mini row of each). Oh, and homemade pickle cucumbers - any ideas why I would possibly have planted those???? Tuesday evening I planted 4 kinds of tomatoes and 3 kinds of peppers (sweet green/red, sweet golden, and jalepeno for jelly!)

So far the carrots are making an effort to break through, but a dear friend of mine would call them belly carrots because you have to be on your belly to see them!

And as you can tell in the picture below, the lettuce is making it's leafy presence known too!

Okay, so it is just a little presence, but still, it is sprouting!

And we are finally seeing the first of the bean plants

I am hoping to finish planting the basil and cilantro this week, and then I am done except for the weeding....sigh. And I will likely see if there are places I can squeeze in some herbs still. I would definitely like to plant some chamomile and lavender as I love those, and hopefully some oregano too.

I did try to start my seeds inside this year, and that was a colossal failure. Without having a south facing window to put them in or a permanent light over head, they got leggy, and while I think most of the peppers are salvageable, the rest are not, so I lost a good number of seeds, but I learned something important, so that counts too. Here in southern California I can plant my seeds directly outside by early March, so there really is no reason to start ahead, even though growing up that is the way it was done by the women who gardened because the season was so short. For the seeds I did plant I simply put a thin bamboo skewer beside each seed so I knew where to look, then did the same thing for each seedling so I knew where to expect stuff. I am planting in a raised flowerbed so it is not the traditional row garden.

Before my husband and I married I never had a garden to learn in or play in. No one taught me how to garden or plan or anything like that. My husband comes from a long line of gardeners. And it encourages me so much that they just smile and answer my rank amateur questions and encourage me along, rejoicing in my feeble successes, and commiserating over my failures, assuring me that it has happened to them too. I am not sure I believe that last part, I think they are just trying to make me feel better, but you know what? It works!

So are there any other newbie gardeners out there? What are your plans?

How about you experts? What is your favorite thing to plant?

Bounce Static From Your Skirt

I am finally returning to Works for Me Wednesday after a LONG break, basically because I finally have something to share!

Easter Sunday we were heading out the door for church when I realized I had REALLY bad static cling in my skirt, the light flitty spring ones that are actually two layers, and one layer was as static-laced as the other - it almost looked like I was wearing culottes! I kid you not!

And we have no static guard to help.

Humidity was below 20% so it was not just going to fall out on its own.

So I figured if Bounce sheets were good in the dryer for keeping static in out of your clothes, it was worth a try.

There was no time to change so I asked my husband to rub the inside of my skirt with a bounce sheet. He looked at me kind of weird, but agreed. And it WORKED!

The funny thing was that as soon as he was done with my skirt our daughter (almost 3) walked up to him and said, "My turn!" Her dress was almost as bad as mine!

So, using a bounce sheet to get static out of your skirt works for me!

Simple Strawberry Jam

This morning I made a quick batch of strawberry jam. There was nothing special about the recipe that made it fast - I buy the no sugar pectin (but still add a bit), and just follow the directions that come with it.

The jam was so quick to make because the berries were prepared and frozen when they were at the peak of the season (and therefore rock bottom price), and are now just waiting for me in the freezer when I need jam. I do not have a cold room or a big enough fridge to store jam if I make a year's worth when the berries are in season, but if I clean and prepare the berries, then freeze them using the zip top bag method, freezing flat of course, I can freeze lots of berries - enough for fruit syrup and jam all year!

It is surprising how your time is cut down when you do not have to clean and cut your berries! Although this year I think I will lightly run them through the food processor before I freeze them as that is how we prefer our jam - not all big chunks of berry and syrup, but both in every bite!

So at least I got something productive done this morning in amongst caring for my patient (husband) and playing with my daughter, even though for some reason all three jars refused to seal! Plus, I am convinced that home made is much better for my family!

Head over to Tammy's for lots of great kitchen tips!

P.S. If you know of a way to save on the cost of pectin I am ALL ears!

An Unusual Easter

Our Easter this year is definitely going to be one we talk about each year.

It is a record breaking heat wave - temps into the 90's Saturday, Sunday and today, and on Saturday when we turned our air conditioning on we found out it was broken. Ummm. Oops.

So Sunday we decided we would just put chicken fingers in the toaster oven, and rice-a-roni in the microwave for supper and eat outside! Sounds great, so we headed outside to play because at that point it was cooler outside with the breeze, and we have a water table to play in. All of a sudden, right before I should have gone in to start supper, the breeze died, and it felt like all of those 90 degrees! So we loaded up into the car and headed to Burger Kind and their air conditioning. We were comfortable and well fed.

It was a hot night, but by about 10:30 it got cool enough in the house to sleep comfortably.

This morning I called the repair company that our insurance said they would use when I called on Saturday, and I almost wept with relief when she said someone would be here between 10 and 1! At 10:30 the repair man arrived, and at 11 our air conditioner was working and had its spring check up. The house was still an extremely comfortable temperature at this point, so there was no sacrifice at all today!

I am very grateful we found out this early in the season and not when there would be no breeze or relief from the heat in sight!

I was emailing a friend this morning, and said that yesterday was a testimony to how far the Lord has grown me. Rather than fuss and fret about our meal I just made alternate plans and headed out to play. A few years ago I probably would have felt like a failure, now I just laugh about it - in fact, I had to call our families (who are in the middle of huge whiteout snowstorms) and tell them about our fancy supper so they could laugh with us!

Oh, and I think I will roast our chicken next weekend - it is supposed to be cool!

What fun memories do you have from Easters past?

Happy Easter

Easter is one occasion when whatever words I come up with seem so inadequate to mark the sacrifice of our Lord.

So I will keep it simple, and wish you a very Happy Easter.

And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.
Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another— He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

Hebrews 9:22-29

Preparing for Easter

Today will be spent preparing for Easter.

The kitchen will be cleaned, destroyed, cleaned, repeat.....as we prepare what we can today.

Tomorrow afternoon will see our oven filled with roast chicken, pineapple meatballs, and a sweet potato casserole. Veggies will be done on the stove at the last minute, rolls, coleslaw, and angel food cake will be made today.

It is actually a simple meal - the meatballs are made and frozen simply requiring an exceedingly simple sauce. I am not making dressing (or stuffing) for the chicken as we are having a heatwave, and that just seems like it would be to heavy and too much food for us. I like to do as much as possible to day before so that I am not rushed and crazy for Easter - after all, I would much rather focus on our Lord, whose sacrifice is overwhelming!

I also will get to prepare overnight French toast tonight, and a special basket!

Updated to add: Change of plans, we are in the middle of a heat wave, temps in the mid 80's, and, after I had used two elements to get supper ready and had it in the oven, plus a cake ready to go in right after, we found out our air conditioning is not working. So we are thinking we will barbecue tomorrow instead! Oh well, at least we have an angel food cake to go with fresh berries and whip cream! (Oh, and praise the Lord, we have insurance for our air conditioner, so hopefully the repair or new unit will be completely covered!) I think the Lord is trying to teach me to take it easy right now.....either that or to keep being more flexible!

Sharing From My Stockpile

Every once in a while there is a need, and I am always happy when I can meet that need with items from my stock pile (from coupon clipping at grocery stores and CVS).

The last two weeks of this month our church will be collecting toothbrushes for refugees in Uganda. Believe it or not, this is a big need there! I had not thought how hard it would be to meet back hygiene needs in such conditions! And as I looked in my toiletries stockpile I have a nice selection to share - but have two more weeks to find some more good sales!

Even though Miss Pear is not always aware of why we do things, I have bundled the toothbrushes with a rubber band so that she will be able to be the one to put them in the collection box. I think it is a concrete way to show her how we share what we have however we can.

Of course, I still end up with more free stuff that we can use (I never thought I would hear myself say that), so I keep a box in the garage of stuff that is more than we can use, or good stuff, but not great for us (we all have weird hair that requires specific shampoo), so I am always slowly filling a box, and there are numerous families we can share it with. One family is a widow with grown children, two of her daughters are married to pastors and one of her sons is still in college, plus they aways know people who need stuff, so I love to drop off a box at their house when we are nearby.

The reason I share this is to encourage you to not only be diligent is handling your family resources as well as possible, but also to encourage you to share your bounty when you can! It is always extremely appreciated, and it will be stuff that has fit into your grocery budget that you have probably picked up free at CVS! :-)

English Muffins

Yesterday I finally attempted a new project - I made English Muffins using the recipe from More with Less. While I was not able to eat supper last night my family reports that they were a great success. So for tonight's supper I turned 6 into mini pizzas and served them with coleslaw! Another recipe from More With Less (on the sidebar if you are interested) and another hit! Although I did add pepperoni!

Do you use the More With Less Cookbook? What are your favorites that I just have to try?

The Mother Load

Ages ago I did a quick post where I basically shared some articles I loved, found helpful, or piqued my interest (or made me laugh too, that is a sure way to get my attention!). I loved it, got a great response, shared a couple favorite blogs with you, and cleaned out a few bloglines - you certainly cannot beat that mulitasking! And then I never did it again. Until now!

One Blog I love is the Mother Load. And not just because she does Freebie Friday, although it is a rare week I miss that! She is a mom just like us trying to take care of her family well without breaking the bank. I get great ideas from her, and wanted to share a few articles that I had marked to save. (Oh, and she is spring cleaning right now, so if you need some help getting going, definitely pop over!)

I LOVED her post on "Ask Frugal Mama: Getting to Know Your Dishwasher" as she shared how it is no longer more expensive to run our dishwasher than do the work ourselves. She also share some tips for caring for your beloved dishwasher (yes, I have a very close relationship with mine, why do you ask?) This article is probably single handedly responsible for our clean kitchen right now as my energy is on the low side - I just load up the dishwasher and put it through. (Naturally I buy my detergent on sale with double coupons and have carefully read the instruction manual for loading for maximum efficiency, but do you want to hear the funny thing - my husband can out do me in loading the dishwasher any day of the week - funny and true!)

As you know I am a big fan of making my freezer work well for me and my family, I particularly enjoyed the articles "Get to Know Your Freezer" and her article "Running and Energy-Efficient Freezer".

I laughed, understood, and took notes when I read Getting Ready for Unexpected Guests.

I found the article "A Few Words About Convenience Foods" very helpful, and it definitely got me focused on this budget drain! It is so much easier to eat healthier cheaper with a little planning! I know that if I follow the tip to package things in one serving portions that the first few months of nursing will go SO much better!

I saved the recipe posted with "When the Pantry is Bare" because it sounded like something we would like, I am pretty sure I could hide frozen veggies in it, or at least beside it, and I always have all those ingredients on hand!

And I will have to try the Apple Pie Muffins!

"Baby Steps Series: The Art of Stockpiling" was very helpful, and I was not new to frugal shopping when I read it! The companion article called "Baby Steps Series: Storing Your Stockpile" is also good, and got me thinking about how I can better store our stockpile of stuff.

These are just a few of the posts and articles that got me thinking and helped me. They are all ones that I will be saving onto my computer file of household articles for future reference and help! I hope you enjoy them too!

If you read the Mother Load too, what articles did I miss? What are your favorites?

Right on target...

...I guess?

Apparently things are progressing right on target, we went to the park this morning to play with friends, and I had my first bout of low blood pressure for this pregnancy. (I am thrilled because last year we did not get this far, and this appears to be very normal for me.)

On the plus side, at least it is not high blood pressure! And I got to freak out my friend just a bit....

Those Plastic Shopping Bags!

Lately it seems that those flimsy plastic grocery bags are garnering lots of attention in the news. If there is not a group trying to save them there is a group trying to have them banned! I read a number of the articles, and now I regret not saving the links.

But one country that banned the plastic grocery bag reported a 400% increase in the purchase of garbage bags. Hmmm - their plastic bags must be a whole lot better than what the stores here give you!

But no mater what side of the argument you fall on, or even if you don't care, can I ask you a question?

Would you bring something home solely for the sake of recycling it or throwing it in the garbage?

Yet this is what we often do with grocery bags. We even nobly opt for paper because it is easier to recycle! Now I do request paper bags when I have a need for them, but no other time.

Actually, where we live we can recycle the grocery bags and the plastic produce bags (which I am still looking for a valid option on) by simply throwing them in our recycling bin. But again, what is the point of bringing them home in the first place if I am only going to throw them out!

At first as I read these articles I got a little bit annoyed by our short sightedness and thought that the stores that charge you for bags have the right idea (okay, so I still think they have a point), but as I think about this whole issue more, I reach a conclusion.

Just because our stores love to waste their money by giving us those useless plastic shopping bags (mine always seem to have holes or ripped handles) does not mean I have to take them. I do not need an act of either the local or national government to tell me that I can make better decisions, I can do that myself.

So I began looking for reusable grocery bags. And when my hunt went south I asked around and ended up being given 8 or 9 as gifts (fortunately they are all the same!) - although I believe these particular ones retail for about $1 a piece. These are normally enough for all my grocery shopping, even on a week when the list is long and numerous stores are included on my shopping run. (Although I have been known to combine partially filled bags myself). And I keep the bags in the car so they are ready even for those last minute stops (honey, can you please pick up milk on the way home?)

And besides the less waste argument, two of the stores I shop at give me a $0.05 credit for every bag of mine they use! It is not a huge amount, but at least it is some kind of recognition that I am saving them money but not taking their bags!

But I am still surprised that at some stores I almost have to be insistent that I would really prefer they use my shopping bags.

Now I will not mislead you and say that our household is perfectly "green", but we are trying to take little steps to make a difference in our own little corner of the world. And would you like to know how this started? When we moved our garbage and recycling bins were overflowing each week, and I began to carefully look at and think about what I was throwing out. In some cases it has saved us money, and in others just saved my happiness (those plastic bags really annoy me for some reason).

Now I am just trying to remember to take them for my non-grocery shopping trips too!

What do you think about this whole plastic bag argument? Do you use your own? If not, what do you do with all those plastic bags?

Tropical Muffins

This morning we made muffins, and they actually ended up being quite frugal. We doubled the recipe so that we were using a whole can of crushed pineapple rather than just half, and we had picked it up on sale. Plus we used bananas from the freezer - in January the bananas looked so good, but would go from green to brown overnight about half the time, so we ended up with quite the stash in the freezer (you didn't think I would throw them out did you?)

Plus I had picked up the vanilla (real stuff), flour, butter, eggs, baking powder and baking soda at Costco for a fraction of the cost at the supermarket! So this was actually all stuff I had on hand! You have to love that!

And to make this even more frugal, I was able to fit two pans of muffins in my oven!

Oh, and they were also delicious! (After all, it is not frugal if they taste horrible and end up moldy because nobody would eat them!)

Tropical Muffins - Makes 24

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups crushed pineapple (drained but do not squeeze out)
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana

Cream sugar and butter together. Add vanilla and egg, beat until light and fluffy. Sift dry ingredients together and add alternately with mixed banana and pineapple. Mix gently until dry ingredients are just moistened.

Place in greased muffin tins and bake at 375 F for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 for another 10-15 minutes.

For more great frugal tips, head on over to Crystal's!

A Better Morning

I must say, today went much better than yesterday - there were no mad dashes to the bathroom, and no unplanned carpet cleaning due to morning sickness. So really today is looking up!

(Yesterday afternoon we had our first trimester ultrasound screening. It was great - the baby wave to us! I love that! Funny, but I was not worried this morning when I was feeling a bit better! It was like I finally had the piece in my heart to be confident in this pregnancy without the ick to confirm all was okay!)

In other news, I am feeling quite accomplished this morning!

We managed to:

1. wash 4 loads of laundry
2. change our bed and remake it
3. make a double batch of Tropical Muffins (pineapple banana)
4. make 2 very important calls regarding our health insurance

Okay, so the kitchen still needs some serious attention, but the list still makes me feel pretty good!

Measuring Accomplishments

There was a time, like right before Christmas, where I measured a successful morning by how much we got done, how much was crossed off the to-do list and cleaning list, and how well Miss Pear did as my helper. Oh sure, we had play time and reading time and stuff like that, but morning was also the time to get things done! A successful morning included polishing off the cleaning list, reading books, having breakfast devotions, and some learning time. Along with play time of course.

Well, this morning I realized that I can pretty much wave good bye to that standard good bye.

I felt accomplished this morning when I managed to:

1. wash our quilt (casualty of morning sickness)
2. empty the dishwasher
3. reload the dishwasher
4. make Italian Meatball Soup in the crock pot
5. wash the dishes

Yup, that's it. Now I need a nap.

Yet Another CA School Issue

Can you please tell me in what context this statement made by a teacher would not be completely unacceptable as the teacher claims it was taken out of context.

"When you pray for divine intervention, you’re hoping that the spaghetti monster will help you get what you want."

This is a quote from an Orange County Register article that recounts yesterdays court battle by the school district to have a case thrown out. The case was brought by a student who is a Christian after sitting through AP History and being taught anti-Christian sentiments rather than history.

Yesterday's court case just ensures that it will be heard before a federal judge, it is not an end. This family has a long haul ahead of them!

Oh, and I will be returning to my usual blogging of home stuff, I promise!

A Fun and Busy Weekend

We had great weekend. We planted half our garden and knocked off some other projects on Saturday. But Sunday was the big day.

I guess we did not think that the time change would be enough excitement for us!

So Sunday morning we went to church and then all went to Sunday School - our church has Sunday School for all ages after church. It was Miss Pear's first day, and she had fun. We enjoyed our class too - it is the new members class.

We came home, had lunch a bit on the late side, and then all napped.

We had to wake up Miss Pear from her nap for the big event Sunday night - her first hockey game. (She will be 3 the end of May). We were able to do this because my husband was given box seats through work, which is a wonderful treat. We had fun at the game even if our team lost. Miss Pear particularly liked the Zambonies!

So we had a late night, and slept in this morning. After a busy weekend today is being spent playing catch up with laundry and getting the kitchen back in line. After nap time we will be baking muffins and supper (Ahh Panic! Chicken Parmesan).

Food and I are slightly better friends so I am hoping to post a couple more food related posts! (Like what to do with bread that is not as fresh as you would like!).

In other news....

....we had our 12 week ob/gyn appointment, and were thrilled to see a heartbeat and baby moving.

So it is no longer a secret, we are telling everyone! We are thrilled, and thankful beyond belief. The Giver of good gifts has been very generous with us!

California Homeschooling a Criminal Offense?

As many of you know, we live in California. As many of you also know, we hope to home school our children rather than use the California public school system which is facing budget cuts of about 10% or so, much of which will be saved by cutting teachers and support stuff.

So when I heard about Justice H. Walter Croskey who basically declared that unless you have a teaching certificate you cannot home school your children I was shocked. The whole article is called "Court Deems Homeschooling a Criminal Offense" and while it is disturbing, the article well written, brief, and worth the read. Also, World Magazine talks about it here.

The Home Schooling Legal Defense Association response can be found here, it includes their action plan. And the latest to date including more specifics on how this fiasco started is available at the HSLDA site here.

I am trying not to panic, I am trying not to get all worked up about it, but I have to confess, when I called my husband to tell him about the article I started the conversation with, "Well, we have to leave California," and my husband basically asked what the newest reason was. Not that we are unhappy with where we live, but the politics and prevailing worldly culture make us a uneasy. Some days it is very hard not to feel like the overwhelming minority as a Christian family in California. However, God put us here and we will remain here until He moves us again, if He does.

However, I would appreciate it if you would take the time to support us California families who either home school now, or hope to in the future by taking a look at the Petition at the Home Schooling Legal Defense Association found here.

Hat Tip to the Servens for highlighting this, not surprisingly it is not exactly being broad casted in California.

Bubble Baths revisited!

I had a question posted about this post, and I thought it would be best to just write a new post to answer it.

The truth of the matter is that we give Miss Pear fake bubble baths. There is no bubble bath solution involved. Sorry to disappoint.

Miss Pear has very sensitive skin that likes to break out in eczema for apparently any reason. Her pediatrician recommended the obvious: washing her face and hands well after every meal, keeping her hands clean in general, cleaning well at diaper changes and potty time, and scrupulous "spot cleaning". Then he said something interesting. He said to only bathe her every 2-3 days, and not to soap her up if her skin was dry or sore. If we were doing the first ones, a water bath and scrub would take care of most baby stuff, and it would be obvious if we needed something more, like a dab of soap!

Now, Miss Pear is getting bigger, and is finding bigger messes, so we don't like to skip soap all together. So when the weather is dry we try to "dilute" the soap by adding it like bubble bath so that we have some soap for good cleaning, but not enough to dry out her skin. Even the soaps made special for babies with sensitive skin and no perfumes can cause problems if her skin is already sore. So she often has "bubble baths" and we just scrub her down!

I hope this makes sense. Believe me when I say we keep our daughter clean, but we also have to work hard to protect her skin as having a little one scratching sore dry skin is not fun.

Hmmmm.....

Is it just me, or does this sound like the Titanic giving the iceberg couple million for sinking it???

To say I am disappointed is an understatement, but unfortunately I cannot say I am shocked, this is the face of business today.