WFMW - Managing a sick family

Last week we were all sick. The worst day of all was Easter Sunday. I kid you not.

We all had horrible colds, and no energy.

As I was talking to a friend of mine I realized that many women (including her) would simply either be martyrs about all this, or let the house fall apart. So I thought I would share what we did to get through this.

When we are all sick, we all pitch in to do what we can. This means that Mr. Pear helped me with dishes and the stuff that could not be left, I was not on my own to do it all. I am very blessed to have a husband who is happy to help me around the house.

The first big thing we did was to regularly change pillow cases so that we were not sleeping on the same germy pillow cases. For Miss Pear we changed her crib sheet. We had really bad colds with really runny noses, so this was very important.

The second big thing we did was to air out our bedrooms each morning so that our rooms at least smelled fresh rather than that kind of sick smell. I would like to think this also helps disperse the germs too, but who knows. I do know that it made me feel better!

Other helpful things:

1. Make a big pot of Veggie Soup - this way all that produce you bought for the week will not spoil! I start with 2 cups of stock, 3-4 cups of water and a 56 oz can of petite diced tomatoes, and put over heat. As I am waiting for it to come to a boil I add whatever veggies I need (and want to use up) and barley. Let simmer for at least 45 minutes for nice fluffy barley. Add pasta for the last 10 minutes. This provided 3 meals for us!

2. Toast is an acceptable lunch.

3. Break into your stash of freezer meals - now is that time when you need help!

4. Run the dishwasher. I don't usually put my pots and mixing bowls in the dishwasher, but when I am sick I put everything possible in - this means less work for us, and it sterilizes everything. (Plus our water is paid for in our HOA fees, so it does not run up a bill).

5. If your dishwasher is running and you have dishes, run a sink of hot soapy water and drop dirty dishes in - cleaner and the germs are not just laying around.

6. Tidy the kitchen - it will be easier to make meals, get juice and water, and whatever else you need if you are not walking into a mess. It is hard to make myself do this but I feel better with the kitchen clean - kind of like one less thing needing to be done. And it motivates me to keep putting everything in the dishwasher because there is nothing on the counters or in the sink!

7. Change your shirts every day - with Miss Pear rubbing her runny nose on us this was a must! But even without that, a fresh shirt after laying around all day just feels better.

8. Get dressed - even if it is just sweat pants and a shirt - you will feel so much better.

9. Make the bed. This is kind of like the kitchen thing. Even if you are going to just lay on top of it, making the bed will make you feel better. I make the bed, put all the nice fluffy pillows on top, get a throw quilt and get comfortable.

10. Pray for the Lord's healing. Okay, so maybe this one should be first....it is the most important one!

11. Get lots of rest and don't worry too much about your children having more television than you would like, it is just a day or two. This is a great time to break out the video stash.

12. Read good books, and go to bed early. (And napping while Miss Pear naps is great, it allows us all to make it to bed time!)

P.S. This is gross, but if your family is sick with colds, occasionally check mucus color (just ask for color unless it is little ones, then look) because if it is yellow or green this is a sign of sinus infection and it is time to see the doctor. Thankfully we were spared it this time around, but we tend to get it more than is usual around here.

Head on over to Mrs. Dryer's for more Works For Me Wednesday tips

Unprepared

There were a number of things I was unprepared for when we lost our baby at 10 weeks gestation to miscarriage. (Feb 28, this baby was to be our second child, and is our second child, just not with us).

I was unprepared for the doctor's words, the onslaught of emotions, for the deep grieving, for the feelings of inadequacy, for feeling like this was somehow my fault, for people who I expected to be compassionate acting like nothing happened, for crying at the drop of a hat hysterically, for how I felt each time I saw blood.

But we have been doing better, as time passes it gets easier.

Until a last thing happened that I was unprepared for.

The overwhelming emotion that comes with the insurance paperwork saying how much of my hospital procedure is our responsibility. It arrived on Saturday, and it has been a horrible feeling. It seems wrong to be paying medical bills for a pregnancy that will not allow me to hold my baby this side of heaven. It feels like a cruel joke.

But God is pouring the soothing salve of His love on this open wound, because He loves us and is so overwhelmingly good to us.

It still hurts, but I know our child is with God, and will never experience the pain of a fallen world, of human shortcomings, of sin. Our child will only know the perfection of God.

Free Cone Day at Ben and Jerry's!

Today, April 17, between 12 and 8 PM is Free Cone Day at Ben and Jerry's Scoop Shops!

Oh the bliss!



If you go here you can find a shop near you!

Delicious!

Monday is my catch-up and planning day for the week. I say catch up because I pretty much take the weekends off, except for cooking and the cleaning that cannot be left until Monday.

As part of my weekly planning I was considering my menu for this week, and determined that it is worth it to be $6.47 over budget this month rather than $1.48 over budget.

The $4.99 difference is the half flat of strawberries I bought this week. 6 delicious little green baskets of happiness that have yielded;

1. Friday afternoon snacks.
2. Breakfast accompaniment Saturday, Sunday, and Monday
3. 1 strawberry streusel pie
4. A very happy Mr. Pear and Miss Pear

Yup, definitely worth it.

For Heather

Every once in a while you come across a blog that touches you. That was the case with Especially Heather who I found through the bloggy-famous Boomama! What struck me about Heather was all the things she has done to make her corner of bloggyville more precious and filled with God's love and grace.

She is married, and is the mom of three children and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. All the heart-wrenching details are on her web site. Pack your Kleenex when you click on over and of course be sure to leave your encouraging and loving comments!

Boomama is organizing a day and way to show love to Heather and her family in a tangible way, you can read all about it by clicking on the button:



in addition to praying for this sweet family.

Wednesday is officially the Day of Love for Heather!

Umm....congratulations???

Sometimes friends are not that sensitive. They get all wrapped up in themselves and forget about others.

Next time I do this, please stop me! Forcefully if necessary!

A dear friend called last week who I had not talked to in a while (and it has taken me this long to post about it. You just know this is probably not going to be good).

They live in the same county we do, and are trying to move to the same county we are. She called because they had sold their home, were doing great staying at her in-laws so there was no commuting, their new church was great and they had all kinds of new friends, their two daughters were adjusting well, and they were closing on their new home in a couple weeks, it has 4 bedrooms. And kept talking about her two children. And how are we doing?

Well, how do you say just fine when your friend just said that God had blessed them with all the big things you had been praying for God to bless your family with? I said all the right things, and then hung up the phone and had a good cry.

We are still waiting on God....and waiting and waiting.

But He has a plan, and it is a good one. And I am trusting in Him!

Menu Plan Monday - April14-21

We are finally on the mend here in the Pear house, and even though there are still drippy noses, we did manage to venture out to church today - something we are careful about when we are sick due to a large senior population!

So without further ado, here is my menu plan, Saturday to Saturday as that is grocery shopping day!



Saturday

Breakfast - Banana Bread and Strawberries
Lunch - Leftover Pizza
Supper - Out for supper - someone was coming to see our house between 5 and 7...at least they showed up!

Sunday

Breakfast - Banana Bread and Strawberries
Lunch - Taco Chili
Supper - BBQ Steak, sweet potatoes, carrots and rolls

Monday

Breakfast** - Bagels and Fruit
Lunch - Chicken Packets*
Supper - Bird's Nest Pie* and Salad

Tuesday

Breakfast - Pancakes
Lunch - Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and fruit
Supper - Calzones* and Salad

Wednesday

Breakfast - toast and fruit
Lunch - Chicken Packets
Supper - Turkey Burgers and Coleslaw


Thursday

Breakfast - Pancakes
Lunch - Macaroni Bake (freezer)
Supper - Spaghetti (slow cooker)

Friday (Mr Pear telecommutes)

Breakfast - Cinnamon Buns (make on Thursday)
Lunch - Meatball Soup
Supper - Burgers, yam fries, coleslaw

Saturday

Breakfast - cereal and toast
Lunch - not sure - Mr. Pear's mom arrives
Supper - BBQ chicken pizza and salad

Breads
Sourdough Bread -- third time using this starter
3 Four Bread~


Cookies
Spicy Dad's
No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal

Loaves and Muffins
Apple Loaf ~
Banana Streusal Muffins
Orange Loaf ~

Other
Lemon Pie
Granola
Fruit Leather

~ from the More with Less Cookbook (can be found on my sidebar if you want to check it out).

* Indicates a new recipe, a review will be posted after I have made it.

** During the week it is just Miss Pear and I for lunch

Baby Budget Steps Month 1 Week 2

Last week in Frugal Friday's post I talked about the baby steps I was taking to save money in our budget - namely to combine our household spending and grocery spending under our grocery money. Last week, I ended up having to run to Home Depot for BBQ pans and Windex Outdoor that put me $14.22 over my weekly budget (monthly budget divided by weeks I will shop - this month has 4 of them).

I was fairly confident that I could make this up over the month.

Then we all got sick, and Miss Pear needed decongestant as we ran out.

Then Mr. Pear ran out of conditioner, which is the expensive kind because we all have funny hair in our family. He buys the big bottle, which will last more than a year, and just as we were heading to the checkout at CVS he put it in the cart...No problem. But we left CVS having spent $20 more than I had planned.

So then I am about $34 over. Yikes.

When I looked at our menu I realized that I could move many meals from this past week to next week because we did not eat them - we were too sick. So we did not need as much as I had thought. (Although we ate lots of veggies as I had made a very hearty veggie soup for us).

So after going to Vons (where I saved 53% on my bill this week! Yay!) and Henry's for organic milk for Miss Pear and fruits and veggies, I discovered something very nice.

For the month to date I am over budget $6.47 -- so I am making up ground!

Also, I have not touched any of my Costco money yet, so that is good too.

Frugal Friday - Bread Labels

A friend asked me how I manage to buy bread and other baked goods with Miss Pear's allergies seeing as many breads contain nuts or potato, or are made in the same facility making cross contamination a risk. The answer is that I don't ... that is I don't buy baked goods. A loaf of "safe" bread is about $4 - not exactly reasonable when I am working to save on our grocery bill! I an fairly confident that this week I baked Oatmeal bread and cookies for less than $4!

The good news is that I love to bake!

So most days find me baking one thing as if I bake one thing a day, by the end of the week I can have bread, cookies, muffins, a loaf and something else baked! And Miss Pear loves to help. Plus it is good for counting practice too!

I love to have a couple extra loaves of bread, and packages of 6 rolls in the freezer. This gives us some variety rather than having to eat two of the same loaves in a row, and allows for crazy weeks or illness. But the loaves can tend to look alike in the freezer! And bread bags are hard to label in such a way that you can re-use the bags, which, of course, I do.

So I take the twist tie labels from when I buy bulk items (you know, the ones that have a wide end so you can write the bulk bin number!), and write on the other side what kind of bread or rolls are in the bag with a Sharpie marker so it is easy to read, and I reuse the ties until they break or get lost or get destroyed or generally become unusable.

I can easily identify my bread, and I am not just throwing stuff away - like bread bags and ties! And it basically costs me nothing!

Organized, cost effective, and good for my family -- you really cannot beat that!

Click on over to Crystal's for more great money saving ideas!

P.S. I posted an update on how my new goal of saving on our grocery budget is going...

Standing against discouragement

Since we listed our home there have been many times that we have found we have been feeling discouraged and frustrated by this whole thing. Not just trying to sell our home, but the commute, the severe cut in our family time during the week, the fatigue that plagues us (particularly Mr. Pear), the illnesses that have been cropping up, our miscarriage, un-budgeted expenses (like a new tire when there was a spike in the sidewall of an older one found just as we were buying the two new tires we needed, so this was a third), and the change in our family routine.

When we are discouraged, there are a couple of steps we always take:

1. Word of God - read it, think about it, let it soak into you, read it out loud (Bible on CD)! I cannot spend a lot if time in the Word first thing in the morning, so I leave a Bible open on the counter, and read what I can, sometimes just a verse or two, and it helps. I have a longer quiet time either when Miss Pear naps, or in the evening while Mr. Pear finishes his work day by logging in from home (this lets him come home an hour earlier and allows for supper as a family!) I have also found it very helpful to read out loud, I don't know if it is both seeing and hearing the words or if it is just something about me, but reading aloud to Miss Pear always helps me tremendously! As much as possible, saturate yourself in the Word!
   
2. As you study the Word, write down what you learn about God, what jumps off the page at you. As you look back over your notes you will be surprised as you glean truth about God and what He is doing in your life (it may take a week or more to have notes that reveal something to you, it is sometimes like pieces of a puzzle, you are just waiting for that one piece to make the whole thing come together.)
   
3. Praise music - We have a CD player that holds 5 CDs. I load it up and hit play and let it go all day. Miss Pear got a great CD for Easter:

   Seeds of Courage, Compact Disc [CD]
   

   
   It is all scripture, and it is fabulous! We have been playing it lots and it is surprising how having the scripture sung changes the whole feeling of our home and us!
   
4. Speak truth to yourself when you know you are thinking lies. I think this is something I need to be better at - identifying my wrong thinking and then telling myself that this is wrong thinking because of what the scriptures say, and then read myself the appropriate scriptures! Then write out verses on stickies and place them where I see them - bathroom mirror, kitchen sink, change table, etc. to serve as reminders!
   
5. Pray - this is such a big one when I am discouraged, I ask God to help me, to give me a right perspective on things, His perspective! I also pray for the specific situation.
   

This is how we face discouragement, how about you? What helps you?

Miss Pear's Patience Rewarded

Miss Pear's diligence in checking her seeds from every angle, up close, and talking sweetly to them has obviously paid off. While not all the seeds sprouted, we did get more than we expected (we had used some older basil seeds and were not sure what would happen with those, but one sprouted in one pot, and two in the other).

As suspected, our carrot rows are more like carrot waves..... It is uniquely us!

And the tomato pots with basil in the middle are going to be beautiful!

So Miss Pear's first gardening work appears to be very successful.

Miss Pear - extraordinarily good girl

Good Morning!

Everyone is on the mend here, but Mr. Pear and I are still sub-par. Fortunately he can telecommute today because we have to meet with our real estate agent (don't get excited, no good news pending as far as I can tell....) And we are showing our home tonight, so I am grateful to have him home today...actually, I am always grateful to have him home! We would really appreciate prayer in this area, we know this is all about what God is doing and His plan for us.

So because Mr. Pear had a teleconference, Miss Pear and I came upstairs, and while she was playing, I laid down on our bed. She runs back and forth between our rooms, and has fun.

All of a sudden, she comes into our room waving three diapers. She can now reach and open her diaper drawer, so I took her diapers to put them back. And the drawer looked different....

...Miss Pear had taken the half bag of diapers from her closet, put them in the drawer (on the correct side too), then stuffed the empty bag in the diaper pail (it is a flip close one, and she knows she cannot flip it), just the way I always do!

I usually do this with her with me, but I never expected her to fill her own diaper drawer and throw out the bag......

My wonderfully good girl!

WFMW - Stubborn Tomato Sauce Stains

We Pears love our pasta, particularly with tomato based sauces.

However, like most 22 month olds, Miss Pear is not always the neatest eater, and occasionally reaches across her plate for something which results in her sleeve dipping into her sauce.

While we are getting much better at this, I thought I would share our wonderful stain fighting tip for tomato sauce:

Ivory Dish Soap - must be clear, or white and preferably ultra.

Just drip a little on the stain, rub it in, let it sit for a minute or two and wash.

Sometimes I still have to wash twice to get the stain out, but it is the most successful method I have found - and also one of the cheapest! I just keep my bottle of Ivory with my laundry supplies, and it is always there when I need it!

This also works great for greasy stains too!

Head over to Mrs. Dryer's for other great Works for me Wednesday tips!

My kitchen sink doth protest too much!

When we first moved in, I thought the ceramic sink in our kitchen was beautiful, but then I discovered the task of keeping it clean! Actually, clean is not a problem, shiny and stain-free is.

Soft Scrub Commercial (available at Home Depot, I cannot find it anywhere else) usually served me very well! But there I was, cleaning my sink with people scheduled to see my house, and the Soft Scrub Commercial let me down! How rude!

Mrs. B over at Cherish the Home had just recently posted about cleaning her sink with the Fly Lady's method, so I went to the FlyLady's to get the information, and got as far as bleaching my sink with one cup of bleach and hot water - I even dumped in a kettle of boiling water to give it some extra oomph! (Why yes, that is the official Mrs. Pear housekeeping scientific term!) And you know what? An hour later I had a gleaming white sink. I was thrilled. So I just polished it up and was done!

Now, the shocking thing is that once I started the process I remembered that I knew this trick, I just never used it because I always managed to get bleach on me. But I have a new rule in the house. If ever I am using bleach or a bleach based product I wear an old apron and old t-shirt as I can always miss the apron and get my sleeve - I am very talented that way! (By the way, by doing this I seem to ensure that I don't have any bleach accidents...strange, I know!)

I think I will be sticking to the bleach and water trick when little stains appear - unless of course I need a quick fix because someone is coming to see our house!

Nothing like showing the sink who the queen of the house really is!

Bible Reading with Miss Pear

When we were preparing for Miss Pear's arrival two years ago, we knew we wanted to be able to read her Bible stories, but could not find a children's Bible story book that met the standard we had. We did not just want pictures, we wanted God's Word! The more we talked about it, the more we realized that we wanted Miss Pear to have a Bible of her own, right from the start. We did not want to have to explain the difference between Bible story books and the Bible. So we got the

NIrV - The Adventure Bible for Young Readers, Hardcover

and we are thrilled. It was waiting for Miss Pear when she came home from the hospital, and Mr. Pear wrote "welcome to the world" inside it.

We started reading to Miss Pear while she was nursing, just a section or two. Then as she began feeding herself solid food we began reading to her in her high chair - both to take advantage of a captive audience who could not reach the book, and to pass the time! I am not much of a breakfast eater, so we still read Miss Pear's Bible to her at breakfast. Right now we are just working our way through the Gospels, again. We like reading to her about Jesus! As she grows we will read further, but for now we just keep working our way through the Gospels.

Miss Pear likes this time, she knows that we pray before we read, so as soon as she sees us opening her Bible she goes into her prayer posture (head bowed, hands about an inch from her cheeks, peaking up at us) and waits for us to pray.

We just read a section or two once or sometimes twice a day, so we are not breaking land speed records, but Miss Pear is nourished with the Word, and I pray that the seeds we are planting now will grow into a mighty harvest.