Happy Long Weekend!

I am starting my long weekend a day early. No good reason, just because I want to!

Have a wonderful, restful long weekend!

(why yes, this is a pointless post, but I realized that if I am not where I should be people think I am at the hospital, and if I don't answer the phone people think I am at the hospital....I just did not want you to gleefully think baby was here and not play in the pool!)

Miss Pear is Overjoyed!

Her buddy is here, and she is so happy to have her grandma to play with! I can hear them reading books very happily and discussing every detail as only a 3 year old and her grandma can!

It is so sweet.

And she even managed to nap for an hour this afternoon - I was not expecting that so was very happy!

It is to laugh...

...sometimes as a mom we are privileged to hear the sweetest and funniest things. Sure there are days where it seems like all we do is provide correction, but if we are diligent in teaching our children it seems like these days are rare.

Today was so funny. And it was just what I needed.

I told Miss Pear we were going to do dishes after nap time, and you would think with the delight in her voice that I had promised ice cream. She was thrilled. When I started without her she was most irate and informed me that it was not possible for me to do that big job without her. While helping she pretended to make me a cake, a yummy drink, and cookies. Such a sweetie.

At three and three months she has little jobs around the house that are always hers, such as picking up her toys, etc, but also tasks that bless our family. One of her jobs is filling the toilet paper holders. This afternoon I asked her to do that as it was needed and she very happily did this, counting as she went. The funny part was that I did not think about the package of toilet paper I gave her - it held 6 rolls, our holder only holds 4. Not to be deterred, she carefully stacked the two extra on top! Hey, she had a job to do and she was going to do it!

She was a very big help today, both practically and with laughter. I love being a mom, and I love that I am home each day to enjoy these special times.

36 week update

In many views we are officially considered full term (although some say another few days would be needed to get us there) and might I say that I certainly feel full term? Just roll me along! But it is so great! We are praying that nothing begins before Wednesday as that is when our help arrives, and we would be officially full term by all standards at 37 weeks! (I really want my MIL here before anything happens so that I can be confident that Miss Pear is well cared for and thinks she is on an adventure with her buddy! It will be a great comfort to me while we are in the hospital!)

At our doctor's appointment on Friday we had an ultrasound, and the tech complimented baby on her beautiful spine! I love hearing those things! Confirmed again that yes, it is decidedly a girl! And everything looks good. The weight estimate is currently 6lb and 6oz, and of course that is always high, so I am guessing closer to 6lbs. The doctor confirms that we are indeed boring and there is nothing to talk about! What more could you ask for! And no, she did not say it like that, that is just the way we are saying it! I was concerned because at each of the last two appointments I have lost a pound, and I was worried about that, but was assured that it was fine. (I am so big, and it is so hot that either one would make it hard to eat, and baby is so healthy).

Although I believe that on Wednesday I will open up a fun baby pool that will ask the question of if baby will make it to September 10 (if not, what day will she arrive - note that I am waiting for Wednesday to start this!), and weight and length. This is just for fun - and is solely to amuse me... (and it is fun because everything is going so well!)

So basically, we have no news.

Although Jen will have news today, maybe not posted today, but news nonetheless. Please pray for her and her sweet boy who will be born today, early, via C-section. Please particularly pray for her son's lung development and the abdominal area, her full speedy recovery and that the Lord would be glorified throughout.

Theology according to Miss Pear, Part 3

So we were reading in Psalms more this week, and got to either 17 or 18, and were reading about God being our Rock. And Miss Pear loves to play with rocks.

Looking very concerned about this she looked at me and said, "God is not our rock, He is our Jesus!"

Afterall, she has seen Daddy break rocks into smaller ones for her, so that is not very sturdy and strong, plus she has seen the construction at the school nearby breaking up concrete, that looks like rocks, so that is not as strong either, but she knows what is!

Cherry Tomato Overload

Remember when I said that the tomatoes were producing and that I had accidentally double fertilized them? Well, we are at risk of being overwhelmed with cherry tomatoes - such a hardship! :-)

We are eating them and enjoying them heartily! But for Frugal Friday this week I wanted to share with you a very inexpensive pasta sauce recipe that is only good this time of year and only with fresh off the vine cherry tomatoes (we are enjoying the sweet baby girl variety!)

Pasta Fasta

2 cups of fresh cherry tomatoes washed, dried, and halved (quartered if they are big)
2 cloves garlic, diced
2 tbsp dried basil (adjust to your liking, and substitute fresh if your garden is giving you that)
3 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste (I usually just do this at the table as the tomatoes have not needed the salt and pepper is iffy for Miss Pear)

Mix the above ingredients together in the morning, cover, and let marinade on the counter all day, stirring occasionally.

At supper time cook enough pasta for 2-4 according to package directions, drain, return to pot, and toss with marinaded tomatoes (scraping bowl for all that yumminess). Toss well and serve warm.

If you want you could add shredded mozzarella cheese, but we never do and don't miss it!

We figure that last night's supper for three, which will also be enough for tonight's supper as I apparently had a heavy pasta hand, cost all of about $1, total.

Knit Knit Knit....

After updating you on the garden progress, I thought that you might want to know how the afghan for baby is going?

As of yesterday afternoon I had finished 23 inches of it. I am thinking that it has to be almost 40 inches. So with 19 days left, if I knit an inch a day....

It is really turning out beautifully, and I am very pleased with it. It is nice to see it long enough to actually keep a baby covered at this point! It gives me great hope that it will be done in time.

Tomato Trials

Well, the other night I got a call from our neighbor - the traps they had put out to deal with the mice problem they were having in their tomatoes, similar to the problem we experienced, had caught a mouse.

Said mouse was 4 inches in body length and 5 inches in tail.

Yeah, I don't think it was a mouse either, but I am more than happy to humor her.

So last night after supper we were out once again harvesting all the not green tomatoes to bring them in the house to ripen on the counter. We did not discover additional damage, thankfully!

Also, no more visitors like this guy either!

What we cannot eat we are sharing and freezing to make crushed tomato sauce.

And we will be having Pasta Fasta for supper tonight - recipe to follow...

Although we did harvest green and yellow beans, which are very late because the snails kept eating them. Unfortunately we discovered that something was burrowing in and eating the beans inside. So we are going to have a rather lackluster bean crop this year.

Oh well.

This is really our first year of all out gardening in Southern California, my first ever, so we are just chalking things up to learning experiences and noting what we will do differently next year.

We will again plant tomatoes, beans, peppers, cucumbers and carrots, but no lettuce as it just attracts slugs and snails and were not able to eat it any ways, and hopefully next year our fruit trees will be established and give us fruit! (This year we got lots of blueberries, and it looks like we will get some mandarins, but that is about it).

How are your gardens going?

3 more weeks...

We went for a walk tonight, and the conversation turned to the arrival of baby. We realized that in 3 weeks, at the most, we would be holding our sweet baby.

Part of me panicked that we only had 3 weeks left, but most of me shouted in protest that I could not wait that long!

But if we make it to our planned C-section date, three weeks from tonight we will be holding our baby for the first evening, checking her out, talking to her, kissing her, cuddling her. I cannot wait!

Although I am praying to make it until reinforcements arrive in one week so that Miss Pear is well cared for by her grandma, and also there is a family birthday before then that I really wish to avoid! (I was a continual disappointment to said family member, and would like to avoid August all together for baby's birthday). But really, I am more concerned about grandma being here for our first blessing while we are in the hospital welcoming our second.

Thank You Cards

Did you want to see the thank you cards I made for Baby's arrival?

There are actually 5 different ones as the background bottom paper changes slightly, only three are shown here. And the flower part with the green frame and ribbon is actually raised.

I was very pleased with the way they turned out! Especially that this is the first ever serious card making project I have undertaken on my own! (Although 2 friends consulted on the colors!)




If there is interest I would post the how to and what materials I used (complete with pictures).

I did not know this as this before, but there is something very special about sending out thank you cards you made yourself. So far I have just used these for the Church baby shower, but will be using them for all the baby stuff and other things that come up until they are gone! Then I will just have to make more!

Being Flexible

Last night I had today all planned out, including two posts that I will be saving for next week's Kitchen Tips Tuesdays and WFMW, and finally working on the hope chest series again (I found my scribbled notes), and the thank you notes I made. I was going to finish said thank you notes, bake bread, and get lots of desk work done during nap time.

Yeah, go ahead and laugh.

Then we went out last night to harvest tomatoes, and something with teeth had been eating one of them - I am hoping it was mice, but guessing a rat. So I tossed that one in the composter and harvested everything that was not green, even if it was not red either, to ripen on the counter. I don't willingly share the garden with unwelcome visitors! However, that work did me in.

Then at 12:30 last night, we woke up to road work, and it had been going on for some time as Mr. Pear and I were both having weird dreams. So we closed up the house and turned on the air conditioning so that we could sleep, but clearly no one got enough.

So today turned into super easy light day. My only accomplishments are knitting while watching cartoons with Miss Pear (who clearly did not get enough sleep but cannot sleep in either), writing 3 thank you notes, and emailing in my stamping order it use up my hostess credit.

We are now going to all nap, hopefully for a long time, and supper will be apple pancakes.

I anticipate an afternoon of paint with water and puzzles.

This reminds me of what a friend used to tell me all the time when I would get up tight about my schedule. She would tell me that the Lord wants His people to be flexible - meaning committed to Him and what He is doing rather than our plans and schedules. And on days like today I am certainly glad He has a plan because I certainly don't! (Except maybe early to bed...)

Unwelcome Guest

While I love to extend hospitality, I do have my limits! Look who we found in the tomatoes!



If you are having trouble spotting the little invader, start with the tomato that looks like a large animal has been eating it, that thing attached is not a leaf..... (Enlarging the pictures helps too!) That thing is actually a tobacco hornworm, and if left unchecked will mow through the tomatoes.

Needless to say the tomato went in the compost and the the worm in the garbage. Although he was so attached to the tomato plant and refusing to let go so we clipped the whole branch end off!

That's what he gets for not asking first.....

At least he was polite enough to eat the green ones and not the nice juicy red ones....

Great Frugal Read

I enjoy the Deputy Headmistress' writings very much, especially when she touches on frugality. She has a tremendous post up over at Frugal Hacks today. I highly recommend it! Sometimes a little perspective goes a long way.....

Where are you finding frugal inspiration that does not involve spending money, but rather involves using more wisely what you have?

Garden of Weeding

To date I have identified 4 ground cover weeds in our garden - this does not include the other kind of weeds...sigh.

The problem with the ground cover weeds is that they keep coming back - even in spots where we dug down over an inch! And weeding is becoming a problem as at 35 weeks the ground seems to be getting further and further away, so the weeds are growing where I cannot reach them.

Not to be outdone by weeds of all things, and refusing to go down in defeat. I decided to try an old trick used to kill grass - put down news paper!

So we carefully put down the newspaper.



Being certain to leave enough room around the fruit trees, plants and sprinklers. Then over top of that we spread compost, grass clippings and leaves.

We began this process a little over 5 weeks ago, and the weeds underneath are slowly dying as the newspaper suffocates them, but not our trees. Unfortunately some are growing out of the holes, but there are a lot less to deal with!

The newspaper is also acting like a mulch, so it is keeping things nice and moist in this heat, which is a nice benefit! Over time the newspaper will break down thanks to the sun, etc. In fact, we have already had to add more paper in some spots.

So the newspaper was part of our regular subscription - no addition money was spent. The water was part of our regular watering except for a bit the day we did the project, just enough to get the paper wet, and the whole project is chemical free.

That definitely sounds frugal to me! Head on over to Crystal's for Frugal Friday!

Thoughts on Leviticus

I finished Leviticus last night, and despite it's reputation of being hard to read and difficult to understand, I really enjoyed it, again. I have had a whole new perspective on Leviticus since I studied it in BSF 7 years ago (wow, was it really that long ago?). We studied it as part of the Life of Moses study which is beginning again in September, and I cannot say enough about BSF's dedication to the clear teaching of God's Word and teaching people to study for themselves or the study on the Life of Moses.

Anyways, as I was reading, I was struck by three things.

1. In the first few chapters where sacrifices are being discussed a key phrase keeps reappearing in the NKJV, and that phrase refers to the offerings as a "sweet aroma" to the Lord. And it got me thinking about it in terms of my daily life, my daily tasks, are they a sweet aroma to the Lord or just something to get done. I would like to think that they are a sweet aroma, but know that sometimes my attitude is...um...lacking. Definitely something to work on here.

2. Kind of in tune with that was the way the Israelites, specifically Moses and Aaron responded. "Just as the Lord commanded." They were obedient to the letter in the method, there was no quibbling or whining, they just did what God said, even the hard stuff. Yup, lesson here too.

3. Leviticus 11. There are so many things I understand better in the Bible now that I am a mom, and this chapter is one of them. Is it just me, or does this somehow sound like the modern equivalent of, "Eeew, don't eat that, it's gross!"

On a side note, I was wondering two things as I typed this up:

1. Do you avoid and skip Leviticus the same way that I used to, or skim it when you get to it just to get through it?

2. Does each member of your family read the same translation of the Bible or are you all different? (We are all different here as we ended up getting a children's translation for Miss Pear, but I guess that she and baby will have the same translation, so we will be 4 people, 3 translations...)