Catch Up Week

I am determined that this is the week I catch up, Lord willing.

It seems like I have been getting progressively more behind since early September when we started trading germs, all got healthy just in time to go on vacation, came home tired, all got sick again with Miss Pear's turning into a sinus infection, started seeing the end in sight, then Santa Ana winds hit, with the fires and the heat, then Miss Pear was allergic to amoxicillin and we panicked over what what turned out to be an innocent heart murmur just disguised as something scary. The allergy left us on stay inside orders for a week, which is just ending today.

All this means that there is no baking in the freezer, not a cookie, not a loaf of bread, not a muffin.

So I guess now I know why I am feeling so desperately behind!

Oh, and my ironing board and iron were rude enough to conk out sequentially. The ironing board seized (could not open and close it) and once we replaced that the iron died. Fortunately we sold a few things in a yard sale that covered their replacement. But not before the ironing pile piled up.

So this is the week we get caught up.

So far we have:

1. Procured the new iron to go with the new ironing board (with coupons and sales of course).
2. Made a sample batch of Supreme Cocoa Mix (thanks to Mother Load for the link!) (We will be making this to give to Miss Pear's BSF teachers for Christmas, 1 recipe makes 2 quart jars, but had to make sure it was delicious - I may have to make about another three batches just to be absolutely certain!)
3. Made 3 loaves of banana bread
   
4. Perfected the Winnipeg Rye Bread recipe (will post it soon)
   
5. Had our regular Tuesday morning BSF, but then went out for lunch just us girls, then came home for naps before running all our errands in the afternoon.
6. Made 4 loaves of 4 Flour Bread
7. Made a batch of Apple Ladder Loaf (yielded 2 loaves)
   
8. Vacuumed the whole house
9. Caught up on the laundry
10. Cleaned the bathrooms.

That is the week so far.

I feel better seeing all we have accomplished, but there is still so much to do!

It will get easier once Miss Pear is over this whole allergic reaction thing from last week and has her energy back, but in the mean time I am adjusting to her needs, so we are snuggling and reading lots!

What are your best tips for getting caught up again? How do you manage with little ones in the house?

Canning Pears

I have always been enchanted with the idea of a full pantry of canned fruit and veggie goodness.

There were just two problems:
1. We live in California so we don't have a basement for a cold room, or room for a real pantry anywhere.
2. I am not so enchanted with all the work of canning, it is really hard, hot work!

But I was determined this year to can pears, pear butter and million dollar relish, which I did!

However, as a girl who loves process improvement I streamlined my Mother-in-law's instructions to a very easy, streamlined, few dishes method.

1. In your on the stove kettle (or you can use a pot and ladle, but this is easier) mix your syrup mixture (double or triple as needed):

• 3 cups water
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp Fruit Fresh (or the like)

Heat to a boil and then turn down to simmer.
(It would also work to heat it in your pot and then transfer it to a large measuring cup for easier pouring)

2. While this is coming to a boil make sure your jars and lids are ready.

3. Peal your pears with a vegetable peeler. Use a melon baller to scoop out the seeds, and your knife to slice (in a V shape) the rest of the core out.

4. As each pear is peeled, cut it and place it into it's jar. When the jar is filled with the amount of pears you are putting in immediately wipe the rim of the jar, pour the syrup from the kettle over it and pop the lid on. Work quickly so that your pears do not have time to brown.

5. As soon as you have a pot full of jars, immediately start processing them so that you can make time. (I had the water starting to heat to a boil with step 1) Process using your favored method (I like a covered dutch oven with boiling water 3/4 up the sides, processing for 30 minutes).

6. Remove processed jars from water CAREFULLY (silicon mitt is great for this) and place on cooling rack to, well, cool. Wait for the happy popping sound of the jar sealing.

7. Let sit for about 2 weeks before digging in....I know, but try!

By using this method I was done in a lot less time, and my dirty dishes were about half of the original method that involved blanching the pears, pealing and cutting them all, setting them to soak in a Fruit Fresh and water mixture while you cut so they would not brown, them placing them in jars method!

This method would likely work in canning any fruit that you are suspending in a syrup.

Works for me, and my favorite kitchen tip to share this fall! It worked so well for me that I assure you I will be canning pears next year! Now if I could just fix the lack of real pantry problem......

What would you like to preserve from summer's bounty for the winters?

(Plus, pears are on sale at Vons / Safeway / Pavilions this week for $0.39 a pound!)

Thank you!

I wanted to thank those of you who have ordered stuff by clicking through links of books I post about or through my affiliate links on the right hand sidebar for Biblical Womanhood, Amazon, and Christian Books.

I want to thank you because you help our family so much! We are a family of voracious readers, and any affiliate money we earn goes into our library fund. We do use the library A LOT, but some books are worth buying, and this is what we use our library money for. Also, our libraries in Southern California do not carry a reasonable, or even minuscule selection of God honoring books, so we are often left to try find what we can at the best prices we can.

So I just wanted to thank you for helping us as it really means a lot to us!

Hmmm, yes, I would love one

The Domestic Diva is hosting a wonderful contest! Dyson has teamed up with her to give away a pink Dyson in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month!

This touches on two issues that affect all women vacuuming and breast cancer! I have lost count of the women in my life who have been treated for breast cancer, and am fortunate to say that they were all victorious over it thanks to early or early-ish detection and excellent medical care.

More Vision Forum Contest Fun

I have to admit, I was disappointed to find I had not won Kim's Vision Forum contest...until I found out she was doing it AGAIN with a limit of $250!!!!

This is particularly exciting because we are still stuck inside because of all the smoke and crud in the air from the wild fires. Which is complicated with our daughter still recovering from her allergic reaction last week. So we are loving this distraction of searching the catalog again.

I made my list, and now Miss Pear is reading the catalog and pointing to the pictures.

We were not certain if the drawing was for all VF product, or just the books and CD's, so we have two wish lists, one including a doll and tea set, but if those are not included in the drawing we have a second list of books and CD's only.

So, Version 1 with the doll and tea set!

1. Liberty Doll page 64 (The Evangeline Doll is running the close second, but we are sticking with Liberty!)
2. Beautiful Girlhood Tea Set, page 77
3. Make Your Own Doll Dress Kit, page 76 So that I can make dresses for Miss Pear's doll out of the same fabric as her dresses until she is old enough to make them herself. (At 2 and a half now, we have a ways to go!)
4. Elsie's Motherhood we have books 1-4 and would like to continue collecting these so that we have an excellent library in time.
5. Elsie's Children
6. Elsie's Widowhood
7. A Church in the House- we are just starting family worship in our house, and are trying to truly grow into a family that glorifies God in each part of our lives and home, so this sounds excellent!
8. How to Develop Character in your Children I think this would be very encouraging and helpful!
9. Raising Maidens of Virtue this looks so good, and I am sure it would encourage me too! (I would have added Passionate Housewives Desperate for God, but my copy should be here tomorrow!)

If the doll and tea set is not included in this drawing our wish list looks like this:

1. How to Develop Character in your Children
2. How to Avoid the Destructiveness of a Wrong Self-Image
3. How to Pass On Convictions to Your Children
4. A Church in the House
5. Raising Maidens of Virtue
6. How to Think Like a Christian
7. Elsie's Motherhood (Vol. 5)
8. Elsie's Children (Vol. 6)
9. Elsie's Widowhood (Vol. 7)
10. Grandmother Elsie (Vol. 8)
11. Elsie's New Relations (Vol. 9)
12. Elsie at Nantucket (Vol. 10)
13. The Two Elsies (Vol. 11)
14. Elsie's Kith and Kin (Vol. 12)
15. So Much More
16. 2006 Best of Festival to spruce up our Family Movie Night!

Menu Plan Monday October 27 - November 3

For some reason I just do not want to go to the grocery store this week. We are tired from this past week's adventures, and the sales are pretty weak while our pantry is pretty full and we still have fruit and veggies. So as much as possible I am planning to eat from the pantry with just a milk and veggie/fruit run.

I also pulled out my More with Less Cookbook (on the sidebar) which I am learning to love - if you have this cookbook, which recipes are your favorite?

There is also going to be some serious baking going on to fill the freezer with cookies, muffins and bread!

Saturday

Breakfast - Toast and Cereal
Lunch - Sandwiches
Supper - Italian Meatball Soup

Sunday

Breakfast - Banana Bread
Lunch - Banana bread and pears (we could not leave the banana bread alone!)
Supper - Chili and Cornbread

Monday

Breakfast** - Waffles and raspberries
Lunch - Cheesy Noodles
Supper - Tortellini

Tuesday

Breakfast - Granola and Yogurt
Lunch - Tortellini leftovers
Supper - Italian Skillet

Wednesday

Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - Tuna Sandwiches
Supper - Rice Pizza Casserole ~ and veggies


Thursday

Breakfast - Granola and Yogurt
Lunch - Tuna Sandwiches
Supper - Tortilla Soup and rolls (using fresh cilantro from our garden - for the soup, not the rolls)

Friday

Breakfast - cereal
Lunch - Chicken Packets
Supper - Garden Supper Casserole~ and veggies

Saturday

Breakfast - Home made bagels or Overnight French Toast
Lunch - Costco Pizza (we must make our Costco run)
Supper - Hamburger Casserole~ and veggies

Breads
3 Flour Bread~
Winnipeg Rye Bread (recipe is getting close, just a bit more tweaking!)
Oatmeal Bread ~


Cookies
Mrs. U's gingersnaps
Chocolate Crinkles
Lemon Cookies
Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin
Granola Chips
Fruit Cocktail Cookies

Loaves and Muffins
Tropical Muffins
Banana Berry Muffins
Berry Oat Muffins
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins
Banana Oatmeal Muffins

Other
Banana Loaf
Granola
Granola Bars

~ from the More with Less Cookbook (can be found on my sidebar if you want to check it out) I am trying to cook through this cookbook a bit, so I am trying to make one thing a week from it but am really not being successful at that with all that is going on.
** During the week it is just Miss Pear and I for lunch, so we eat some strange lunches....

Moms for Modesty

You may notice that my Moms for Modesty button is back on the sidebar. It did not disappear because I changed my mind, but rather because the linking was not working. It is all fixed, thanks to Shannon's post, and I encourage you to click on it to check it out.

You can find the mission statement here and just as a preview, it is about common sense modesty for our girls!

Maybe it is harder because we live in California, or because my daughter is now in a 3T dress because she is tall, but I found that I switched her up a dress size earlier than everything else in order to find dresses of a modest length.

By the way, our standard for dresses is:

• Tea length (below the knees, mid calf) if no bloomers
• knees if it has bloomers

Who would think this was hard!

Where do you find modest, pretty, reasonably priced dresses for your girls? It seems like it is getting harder and harder to get all three!

Life in a Shoe and Vision Forum Contest

Kim is once again hosting a "Woo Hoo There is a New Vision Forum Catalog Contest!" If you are interested, all the details are here!

We almost did not get to play because our catalog just arrived today, so my family and I are playing this as part of our family fun night!

Our current dream order for Vision Forum is:

The Liberty Doll (page 64)

The Beautiful Girlhood Tea Set (page 77)

While Miss Pear is a bit young for both of these we would love for her to have both! We would love to give her the doll for her birthday! And she loves to play tea!

Family Movie Night

The air is much better here than it has been for the last two days. But they are still recommending that children remain inside as much as possible (door to car is okay, playing outside is not).

We already "played" at Target last night, and that was fun, although it was freaky to see the red glow behind the mountains and the fire line at the very top like a ring around one of the peaks. (The fire is moving away from us).

So tonight I am declaring:

Family Movie Night!

Menu:

Homemade Mac and Cheese is already in the slow cooker, I am messing with a recipe so will let you know!

Brownies with Ice Cream for dessert! (I will make them later so that they are coming out of the oven just before supper and are still warm - I am just using a Betty Crocker Triple Chunk brownie mix I got for probably about $1)

Popcorn - our popcorn maker is toast, so I will just make it in a pot and pour melted butter over top.


We are watching a Backyardigans DVD, so I broke out our stash of Backyardigans plastic cups, plates, and paper napkins for the occasion.


What special things do you do for family night fun? It is fun to share ideas!

Bloggy Goodness Part 1

It seems like my bloglines is full of great posts I meant to tell you about, and of course, did not. So today, I am DETERMINED to clean out some of my blogline bookmarks!

It is the perfect day! Miss Pear is just going down for her nap as she is clearly exhausted - we were up a couple times during the night, I think the week finally caught up to her! And my energy level and creativity levels are both a tad on the low side - I think my thankful levels sucked up all their reserves!

So in no particular order I give you my links of bloggy goodness!

Homemade Stuffing Mix! I love stuffing, and every recipe that calls for it sounds great to me! But I refuse to buy it! It is expensive for what you get and full of stuff I really would rather not have. So I was thrilled to find this make it yourself recipe from Tammy!

Callapidder has a great post about how we wives and moms can be such a support to our families in ways that might seem insignificant but are extremely valuable and appreciated!

Mrs. B is a delight, and I had to laugh with delight when I read today's post about how wonderful her husband is. Of course I know that my husband is the absolute best! All wives should think this about their husbands! And it is fun to read other women gush about their husbands too!

It is NO secret that I adore My Quiet Corner, and that I consider her a dear bloggy friend. I am convinced that we would be great friends in real life if we lived closer too! She has had two sweet posts that spoke to my heart and encouraged me! Promise 1 and Promise 2! (Introduced here)

She also has this excellent post about "the rule" they use in working with the youth! It is excellent, and a rule for all of us! Oh, and look here for a good mommy laugh and head nod! Oh, and this one is old, but funny too and excellent for those people who do not understand the importance of Wives/Moms caring for their families and home at home! :-)

And I STILL have this post book marked from last Christmas. And as a former professional/career woman may I say that my worst day at home is still better than my best day at work? It is much easier to handle crying/whining children than whining adults!

More to follow......

Two Churches in the Fire Area

I just wanted to bring to your attention two churches that I know of in the fire area of Rancho Bernardo, San Diego, California.

Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church is confirming that of the families that lost houses in Rancho Bernardo and Poway 57 of those families belong to their church, and they are committed to standing beside those families and helping them rebuild. It saddens me to say that the number is not yet confirmed to be a final number and could sadly increase. They are also committed to helping the other families in the neighborhood. I know this to be a church that is committed to being the hands and feet of Jesus reaching out to both their own and those in the community.

Also, Rancho Bernardo Baptist Church has had their home impacted by the fire with some of it destroyed and some of damaged.

Did I say that?

As a mom I often find things coming out of my mouth I NEVER imagined I would hear myself say.

Like today at the doctor - "Oh, the doctor just wants to take pictures of your heart because it so pretty! Oh look, there is the yogurt we had for breakfast.....and that is what your tummy sees when it looks up at your heart! What a pretty heart!"

But what takes the cake today is: "After supper we can go for a walk at Target and play there." Yup, I just called Target a play destination. But when you cannot take your children outside because of the ash and smoke, and they need to blow off steam, you get...ummmm... creative!

Praying for Noah

If you have not had a chance to click on the button on my sidebar and hear about Noah, I would really encourage you to check out his family's blog and pray for him. He has a serious health problem, and now has a serious infection too.

We are almost boring!

I never thought I would be happy to say that!

Miss Pear does have a soft heart murmur but it comes from having a bicuspid aortic valve (two flappers instead of three), and 1 in 100 people have this, it is common and does not impact a person's lifestyle or life-expectancy. So while the pediatric cardiologist (who was wonderful!) says she is fine and there is no reason to restrict her activities at all, he does want to see her in a year to monitor her as a precaution! We are absolutely thanking the Lord for answering our prayers that this be nothing to be concerned about.

Fire update - well, there is no wind here right now, which is a HUGE blessing to the fire fighters, although it does mean that our city is raining ash right now and filled with horrible smoke - a small price to pay to make the fire more fight-able and give the fire fighters the help they need. Although there are still so many parts of Southern California (including our city and area) where people are evacuated and where homes are at risk, so we are still praying fervently for cooler weather, no wind, and moisture of any kind! As well as for the fire fighters who are working to the point of exhaustion.

Also, most of our friends are back in their homes, and all have homes to return to.

So with that said, we return to our normal bloggy schedule!

Thank you so much for your encouraging kind words this past week and all your prayers for our daughter and safety. They helped SO much.

Oh, maybe later

I was going to post a couple blog entries to distract myself, but that is not going to happen, so here are the highlights!

This is something I am excited about - Crystal's sale on Passionate Housewives Desperate for God (15% off) and Supermarket Savings 101 (50% off for 48 hours only). The book looks excellent, and the class helped me tremendously, and I was already doing a few of the things, but I definitely learned how to do them better.

I am going to wait until next week for the WFMW that I have rolling around in my head as I am pretty sure that everything is going to sound weird right now. And I just cannot get excited about airplane activity bags, although they were a key point in our vacation going so well!

The fire fighters and officials have been wonderful, and so have the residents have been so quick to bring whatever is needed that they have actually had to ask people to hold off on donating things like food, water, blankets, etc as they have too much for right now!

I was going to post about things that are rarely thought of as being needed but that i have heard evacuation centers say they need, and how to accumulate this stuff frugally and where to be donating it to so that it is there in times of need.