Miss Pear's Birthday Part 4

Today is the day I spend cleaning the house and preparing what I can for the party...with lots of play breaks.

All the presents got wrapped last night, and the nuclear melt down passed....mine, not Miss Pear's. For some reason I got feeling very overwhelmed, and a bit homesick because there is no family to call on to help, so when you throw in my type A+++ perfection personality, and pregnancy hormones on top of that....kaboom.

I think I just needed a perspective check.

All Miss Pear will care about was the friends who came to play, the balloons, and the cake. She will love the presents, because regardless of what they are she will be delighted, and not care about the wrap (although ribbons will likely be worn as accessories). And she will love supper at the burger place as long as she gets to order a chocolate shake and ham-ma-burger (which must be delivered with cheese).

No one will care if my house is spotless, or if all the dishes are done and the dishwasher empty, or if everything looks like Gourmet magazine. These are families we know and love who are coming to see us, and who, frankly, have seen us at some of our worst. They just want to come on over, play, and celebrate with us.

What more could you ask for on a birthday???

Miss Pear's Birthday Party Part 3

Yesterday I finalized the menu for and did ALL the grocery shopping for Miss Pear's birthday party. We were very tired by the end, but feel very accomplished! Just don't look at the counters!

3 other families will be joining us to celebrate!

The menu will include:

Italian Pasta Salad
Ranch Pasta Salad
Veggie Tray
Fruit Tray
Homemade Mini Pizzas

Cake

Assorted drinks...

(I will be the chef for the first 5 items).

The party is to be a lunch party, and then we will be taking Miss Pear out to her favorite burger joint for supper!

Did I miss anything?

(Plus I was only over $1 to our monthly grocery and household budget after getting all the party food!)

Miss Pear's Birthday Part 2

I thought you might like to see the invitations we made for Miss Pear's birthday - with all the secret information like name and address removed....

We chose a polar bear theme because she loves "snow bears"

(the back of the envelope and the back of the invitation)

Heartburn Home Remedies

The funny thing lately has been that the worst of the pregnancy symptoms has not been the discomfort as my tummy grows, has not been the nausea, has not been trying to find clothes that fit, it has been the heart burn! And the usual methods of helping have not been working!

So last week I broke down and called our help nurse that we have through our doctor's office. What surprised me was all the natural and home methods she had to help! Surely I cannot be the only one with this problem, and so I thought I would share!

She recommended:

• five small meals instead of the usual 3
• sitting up after meals no matter how much I feel like laying down - a compromise is to sit with feet up on a stool, or some such arrangement.
• avoiding spicy food
  
• eating peppermints when the heartburn hits
• having a few sips of carbonated soda (decaf of course) when heartburn hits
  

While the first three were ones I was familiar with, the last two were not, and they have worked the best! So that is definitely what works for me!

And I would throw in enjoy baby kicking and moving because that definitely makes me feel better about the whole heartburn issue! :-)

Quick and Easy Cookies

This is my plan this week - to use up some of those boxes of cake mix I got for free or next to free before they expire. (I bought them last summer / fall, so the fact that they are expiring is all my fault!) After all, it is only frugal if you use up the free (or next to free) stuff you get!

So today I will be following a recipe I found online. I could not find it again to link directly, but I think it was from Monica. It is the quickest and easiest cookie recipe I have:

Cake Mix Cookies

1 box cake mix, any flavor
2 eggs
1/2 c. vegetable oil or applesauce
any add-ins you want
(i.e. - chocolate chips, heath bits, raisins, craisins, etc.)

Mix together and cook for ~10 min at 350.

We LOVE Spice Cake Mix with Raisins (and either applesauce of pear sauce instead of oil).

Happy Cookie Baking!

Oh - for theology from my daughter who will be 3 next weekend, go here, too funny!

And for some bloggy fun, go here!

For more wonderful Kitchen Tips, head on over to Tammy's! And for lots of great frugal tips, head on over to Crystal's!

Theology According to Miss Pear

After church and Sunday School I always ask Miss Pear what she learned. From BSF she developed the answer of, "I learned about God". However, lately if I follow up and ask her what she learned about God I get more information. This weekend the answer was:

"Jesus belongs in my heart, and milk belongs in my tummy."

500th Post

I was shocked when I realized this week that my 500th post was coming up. It confirmed that I really am a blabber mouth!

It made me start thinking about all the changes in the past 14ish months. It made me thankful for all the ways the Lord has blessed and cared for our family over that time, and the sweet bloggy friends who stop by.

It reminded me of the goodness of the Lord as we are all healthy and prepare for the arrival of a second sweet baby. As I think about the Lord's provision of a house in Southern California on one income. As I think about all the little things and big things that have worked out and come together. As I think about the answered prayer.

As I thought back I could see the growth in our lives and the blessings, even though at the time I missed it.

So to celebrate, could you please leave a comment?

I would love to hear how you found me (if you remember), what you like reading about most, and how the Lord has blessed you this past year in a way that was special just for you. But mostly I would just love to hear from you!

So yup, I am following that time honored tradition of asking you to delurk to celebrate, or just comment for fun.

And Happy Memorial Weekend!

Fixing a Sick Camera

Sometimes it just pays to have a family who chats about the silly things, about the boring things, about the everyday things. I mentioned that on Mother's Day our trusty point and shoot Canon digital camera died a painful death - at least it was painful to me! And it was no longer in warranty, the first thing to check when expensive things break! In passing I mentioned this to my brother-in-law, and he had heard in passing from someone he works with about a recall a few years ago.

A few years ago would work as our camera was not exactly new anymore! So we looked into and found this! The exact defect we were having was covered under the recall - they pay all the shipping and fix it for free!

So when something expensive breaks, look around a little bit - you might be pleasantly surprised! More and more we live in a disposable society, and the result is a lot of items are recalled for various reasons, but these things are not always advertised very well if it is not a children's toy, so it really is worth looking into it!

And it is hard to get more Frugal Friday than free!

P.S. I have an important to me post coming up later today.....something special for the long weekend!

Miss Pear's Birthday Part 1

Did I mention that Miss Pear's birthday is coming up? Next weekend actually. And I am very excited.

My girl is so sweet, when we asked her what she would like she requested a soccer ball (her's disappeared out of our backyard), and a blow up pool. So of course we filled those requests, and the ball is actually PURPLE!

As always there are also a couple books from us for our voracious reader.

And then I just felt I needed something special.

Something very girl.

Something that she could use lots!

And this is what I found:

The Personalized Kids Princess Apron



Which will be personalized with Miss Pear's real name. It arrived and looks wonderful!

I also found the matching Princess Silicon Spatula:



I am hopeful the result of the spatula will be that when we are baking I will actually be able to use mine rather than trying to convince Miss Pear that the spoon is just as good, so could I please have the spatula?

The good news is that I have a girl who loves to help me around the house. However, it means sharing MY toys!

Sewing To Do Pile and Decisions

Lately I have had a revelation on my whole crafting to do piles. You see, I LOVE to craft, and it seems like there is always another pattern turning my head, another thing I just have to try, and another need that can be filled much better if I do it myself. The result is the crafting to do pile.

Here is just the pile by my sewing machine:

From the top down you see the green napkins I am making for Miss Pear's Hope Chest (I put something away each birthday, and I started with her first birthday)

Then you see the two blue fabrics which will make a set of 6 reversible placemats, with matching napkins. The dark blue was also used to make a regency apron for me, and one is in the works for Miss Pear.

At the bottom you can see the pink cherry blossom fabric that was a gift last year for Christmas that is the start of an Edwardian Apron. Not that it would currently fit my growing tummy!

You can also see my two measuring tapes - treasured toys of Miss Pear, who always returns them!

You can also see a couple patterns - believe it or not I have the fabric and patterns to make 3 dresses for Miss Pear but they can be made in her next two sizes, it is not like the fabric will only work for her current size.

There are also two apron patterns cut out in the closet to be sewn up - my MIL cut them the last time she was here for matching mommy daughter aprons so that I could just sit down and stitch when I had time.

So my sewing to do list alone is massive. And I have been feeling bad about that. But this pregnancy has not been the easiest. I get out of bed in the morning only because a sweet little one is awake too and needs me. So our mornings go slow. I try to do some housework and do what I can to start supper. And we MUST play and read - although Miss Pear loves to follow me around the house and do whatever I do, except vacuum, she thinks it is all a game, and I have worked hard to teach her that. After lunch we nap, and I am more than ready for it. And after nap I often feel pretty low. And feel like I am counting down to Mr. Pear returning home from work. So finding extra time to craft and sew has not been a top priority.

So a decision has been reached. Actually a couple.

1. As long as there are children under the age of 5 in the house crafting will be hard to schedule in because my family and their needs will always trump crafts, even when the crafts are for them!

2. When I feel the need to shop for crafting supplies I will do it online or in my stash, and not buy more! Unless there is a real need, not just an, "Oooh, I LOVE that!"

3. I will just keep plodding through my projects, finishing them as I can.

4. I will work hard to finish Miss Pear's afghan (it is so sweet, she picked out the wool and color), and an afghan for baby. Then there will be no more deadline driven projects! No, "Oh, I must make this for so and so for this occasion!"

5. I will finish sewing in the tails on the stack of knit dish clothes I have finished, and then set them aside for the appropriate occasions.

6. When I am working on a project for a specific person I will not count on it being ready for a gift until it is actually done! No more racing pressure projects.

7. I will have good attitude towards all my crafting projects so that my children see the value and blessing of them, and are eager to learn - already Miss Pear is begging me to teach her to knit!

Next up in the crafting tour is that stack of dish clothes.....

How do you manage your crafting to do pile? Am I the only one with this epidemic?

Hawaiian Appliqué

Almost two years ago I was blessed to take a class in Hawaiian Appliqué and Hand Quilting taught by Jean Brown, who is a gem! She is one of those women who is determined to preserve the dying art of both hand appliqué and hand quilting! As quilting is growing, many are using only machines to piece, appliqué, and quilt with nary a hand stitch in site! (A sad state for those of us who view hand quilting as the epitome of the form! Although I do use a machine for piecing, I do the rest by hand)

We began the class by choosing our pattern - I chose the "Sweetheart" pattern, a nontraditional pattern, but I loved the hearts and it is to eventually be a wall hanging in Miss Pear's room!

Once I cut it out and basted it I was left with what looks like this:


While traditionally the hearts should have been pointing into the corners, it looked better this way as the pattern is basically round rather than the traditional square.

In appliqué it is important to work from the middle out. And as many students found out to their horror, because of the size of Hawaiian appliqué it is even more important - my square is actually about 2 feet square!

By the way, the women who found out the hard way had only one way to fix it - frog it. As in rip-it rip-it rip-it out. Truly one of the most horrifying things in crafting to see all those little loving and carefully placed stitches disappear!

Jean then taught us the art of the quarter turn method of appliqué, and made certain that every woman in the room was comfortable with it!

After lunch she also taught us her method of hand stitching which I cannot possibly do justice to in trying to explain! However, I now understand how she can quilt and intricate king size quilt in a month all by hand!

What I loved about the day is that I left enthusiastic and confident that I could do it! And I had finally found thimbles that fit! (like many quilters I wear two - one on my middle finger and one on my thumb.)


I had put the project away for a while but then pulled it out. And Jean had taught me so well that I did not even pause in launching in!

You can see in the next picture how far I have made in the equivalent of about 2-3 days work using the quarter turn method.


Not exactly impressive, but who said I actually did 2-3 days of work in long stretches??? We moms take time as we get it!

Here is the view from the front:


I folded back everything that was not done so that you could see what was done. The last two points of the leaf on the right are not compete yet.

While it may take me forever to finish this project, and all the other ones, that is fine. I plan on putting a border on it that matches the middle, and then hand quilting the entire thing using the traditional method of the width of my index finger tip as a guide.

I love to craft, but I love my family more. Eventually the crafts will be complete, but my family changes and grows every day.

If you ever have a chance to learn Jean's hand quilting methods, I cannot recommend them enough, she is such an encouraging teacher! She is a quilt show circuit regular, and is happy to demonstrate her methods and answer questions! In fact, I think she would be down right insulted if you walked past her without letting her share what she knows, she is that passionate about quilting!

Are you a quilter? What are you working on now?

Are you one of those lovely women who wants to be a quilter? Let me encourage you! It is a wonderful, creative and meaningful art and we quilters love to share what we know of the art! What is stopping you from learning? What project tempts you to learn?

Do what you can, then relax

Lately I have been feeling behind on a lot of things. I am barely doing the baking for our family, let alone enough to be sharing with others. I am barely managing to cook our meals (food is still not my friend at 23 weeks of pregnancy), let alone commit to taking a meal to another family. My house is basically clean, could be neater. My laundry is cleaned, but not all put away.

Then top that off with the desires to serve more nutritious meals, to buy and grow more organic, to do better at stretching our budgets, to follow the examples of my dear friend who is the pro at cooking nutritious, organic meals and running a "green" house.

Yet I don't see her on the days when she is overwhelmed.

There is always going to be someone doing a better job at what we want to be doing, but then there will be areas where they are struggling too.

We accept in our spiritual lives that it is a journey, we walk with the Lord, we follow Him, it is a process of sanctification.

We accept in our children's lives that they are learning and growing.

We even accept that doctors are "practicing."

But we hold ourselves to the impossible standard of excellence.

So my tip for today?

Do the best you can, do what you can, then relax. This is not an opportunity to be negligent or lax, but rather an opportunity to be more joyful!

If you want to make more nutritious meals commit to serving a vegetable or fruit with every meal for the next week - a doable goal! And easier for your family!

If you want to cut back on your meat buying plan one meatless supper this week, and another next week, then after a month or two work in a second one!

Focus on gradual changes, think of it like a journey, and then enjoy it. Take the pressure off yourself so that you can enjoy caring for your family!

When making changes think baby steps not a sprint race.

Also, understand what is reasonable in your corner of the world, in your family and for your family!

I live in California, I will not get the deals that MoneySavingMom does in Kansas, but I can get some good ones!

I do not have the option of buying a portion of organic fed cow or a share of a grain CSA as they are not available here. But I can pick up organic fruit when it is priced right and use my back flowerbeds to grow fruit and veggies organically.

When I started doing our own baking I started with the biggest problems of nut contamination and slowly worked my way into doing all the baking. It was not an instant thing! (Although with an allergy to manage I was pretty motivated to move pretty quickly!)

My husband is a meat and potatoes kind of guy, and a pasta lover. To feed him funky health food in an immediate change would freak both him and my daughter out, but I can slowly try different things and hang onto the things that work! (And doing my own baking helps!) Plus with the fruit trees in the back yard we would like to see if we can make our own juice!

We don't have a grain mill, but are slowly saving for one so we can mill our own grain and it be more nutritious, and while I will start with basic wheats I will slowly be able to try different grains! In the mean time, I do the best I can with what I have!

And yet, when so many are having a hard time with the rising cost of groceries, our grocery/household budget remains unchanged from a year ago as I have learned to maximize it. In fact, I am under budget from the start of the year by over $200!

And when I think back to where we were a year ago, and where we are now I can see the baby steps of changes adding up.

And lest you think I write this for you, know that I am writing these words to strengthen and encourage myself.

So do what you can, take a baby step in a direction of growth, and then relax and enjoy the blessings of your life.

That is my Kitchen Tip, and it also works for me!

Well, at least it was free

Yesterday in the heat we just could not bring ourselves to make supper - we were really pathetic, but it was hot and we all felt lazy from being out in the heat the day before (there was a birthday party we had to be at). So we decided to treat ourselves to Taco Bell for supper because it is close, we had not had it in a while, and there were free coupons for their Frutista Freeze with any purchase. (Click here for the links)

Even though we were thrilled to get out of the house and have someone else make supper, I have to confess I was really hoping that the Mango Freeze would be delicious because Miss Pear loved the one we could get at Target, and then they changed flavors on us.

Well, we were optimistic, but all I can say about the Mango Freeze was at least it was free. Miss Pear would not drink it. She took one sip and was done. We tried it and sure enough, it tasted just like coconut with something that was not mango.

Oh well, chalk it up to adventure, and did I mention that at least we got to try it for free?

The rest of our meal was great, and we enjoyed the change of atmosphere!

Happy Monday!

It is so nice to see the start of the week. While I usually do not say that, this week it means that the heatwave that made Miss Pear so sick on Saturday (not heat stroke, just over heated and irritated) will begin breaking although it will still be hot today and tomorrow. It is so hard for little ones, and she always runs hot!

So we stayed home and inside yesterday and today. Yesterday for her to recover after a very long night, and today to enjoy the air conditioning!

It cooled off enough last night that we went outside at bedtime to get some fresh air. The blueberries look delicious and we are stealing them as we go by! All the tomato replants came up, but the peppers all refuse to cooperate! And the homemade pickle cucumbers all came up, so now we will see if they survive! The lettuce and carrots look great. And 4 of 6 bean plants are up, so I quickly replanted the other ones.

I feel very strange this week as I do not have a menu planned. We went to Costco on Saturday and got the essentials plus milk, fruit and veggies, so I am cooking from what I have, I just don't know what! Tonight it will be pancakes with strawberry syrup as I have some berries that are not as fresh as I would like, but great for syrup!

Wednesday I am taking Miss Pear to preview a dance class for little ones. It is so hot here in the summer and she handles the heat so poorly I wanted to see if I could find an indoor summer activity for us so we were not constantly hiding in the house on hot days. I figure that combined with library runs should keep is in good shape. We will see. The same company also offers gymnastics, swimming, and few other things, so we have options if the dance is not our forte! Although I am pretty certain that it will be a hit as we love to flit around the house!

We ordered a replacement camera, so when it arrives, and I figure out how to use it, I will have some garden pictures, hopefully! (I found a couple snails yesterday who think I put out a buffet for them!)

I still have some pictures I took of crafting projects on the go that I wanted to share, so that will be coming up. Plus we are in the final stages of planning Miss Pear's birthday party (a very simple party focused on getting together with 4 families we enjoy, nothing over the top!) so if I can figure out how to blur certain parts of the invitations I made I will also have that to show you!

As always I have lots to blog about, just not enough time!

Oh, and grandma sent Miss Pear a Curious George DVD to help with the hot weather, and let's just say the little monkey has a very big new fan!

A Major Milestone

If you are not a parent, you probably just want to skip this post.....

This may not be a huge deal to a lot of moms, but I am overjoyed to report that our frustrating attempts at potty training are maybe moving forward.

Let me explain. The idea of taking your child to the potty every 15-30 minutes never worked for us because, well, Miss Pear would just sit there and hold it until you put something back on her. And then do what needed to be done. If you know what I mean.... The advice of waiting 15-20 minutes also did not work - she could wait much longer.

But today, after 2 hours of coaxing, reading, singing, playing and talking in 2 different bathrooms, when it was abundantly clear she really needed to go, she actually did what she had to do in the potty. And not just a dribble either, all of it!

If you live within 100 miles of us you probably will now know as we were very excited. And for the first time have a real glimpse that maybe this will actually be possible!

So I am hopeful that seeing she has done it once it will not be so hard the next time. (Please Lord Jesus!)

And to all my friends who ever complained to me about potty training, I apologize, I was never sympathetic enough or encouraging enough!

Now if you will excuse me I must resume my happy dance!