Of colds and tissues....

I had not planned this little unexpected bloggy break. We had company Thursday morning and by the afternoon I had a horribly sore throat and started heading downhill. Today I have practically no voice to speak of, and feel generally yucky.

Of course that did not stop me from taking Baby to her pediatric orthopedic surgeon as this was the day she got a new harness and therefore we could give her a BATH! It was fabulous, more on that later.

So I am sorry I disappeared on you with no warning and will be back in a couple days....

Laugh at myself

It has become my new motto that when I feel like I could sit down and have a good cry, it is much better to laugh. And with two sweet little girls in the house there is ample opportunity.

Lately I have been feeling like I lose a whole day every week - Monday is always just a wash starting the day with Baby's doctor's appointment, and by the time we get home and get the girls settled it is lunch time then nap time then suddenly supper time and then even more suddenly bed time and I am not sure where the day went! So I am feeling further and further behind, but that's okay.

Although it is funny calling Monday a wash, because really, no wash gets done.

Although next Monday wash will get done. Baby will get her first really bath in 7 weeks because she is getting a new harness and the doctor, God bless him, said to bring her bath supplies. I almost fainted with joy, and if you knew me, you would know I am not the fainting type! For those of you wondering, Baby continues to do great.

I had thought about playing along with Works for me Wednesday, but honestly, the only thing working for me right now is a cup of coffee and a book...one that requires no mental thought but to just be pulled along with the story.

Then I ready Donetta's post about freezer cooking, and I thought gee, whatever happened to blogging more about that. Yup, put it on the list of things to do...after I finish my book.

But honestly, I am uninspired. My freezer cooking plans on the horizon consist of making lots and lots of cookie dough to freeze and bake... or thaw and eat...hard to say.

Now maybe I have played too many rounds of Puppy Pals Bingo, but a nap sounds good too...right after my coffee.

Be a Finisher

This is my last post on goals, and it is an apropos one too.

This year I want to work hard on being a finisher! I am a great planner, a great starter, but often lose momentum part way through and fizzle at the end.

This year I want to faithfully work to meet my goals, to develop better habits, right through to the end.

This I want to finish those books, those projects, those plans, and finish victoriously, not just getting it done somehow.

I am tired of seeing the started but unfinished. I want to enjoy the finished stuff!

I want to finish that quilt that I picked up material for when we were away for our 4th anniversary...our 10th is this year.

I want to finish the wall hanging I started for Miss Pear's room 2 years ago.

I want to finish the afghan I started for Baby before she was born!

This year I would like to develop the discipline of being a finisher.

Goals for the Girls

The last big area I have goals in this year, is for the girls.

We are starting more formal education with Miss Pear, and I want to be faithful to that.

I already mentioned Bible reading with the girls, but would like to include memorizing verses, learning songs, and encouraging prayer.

For school I would like to faithfully spend time each week day doing the prereading part of Alphaphonics and then also spending a week on each letter. I am thinking of also making up a number chart along the same lines of the alphaphonics prereader program for letters. My goal is good number and letter recognition, and being able to writer her name without help by her birthday (the end of May).

Miss Pear loves to help me around the house, she already can set the table (using the charts I made up to show here where everything goes), put the cutlery away when we empty the dishwasher, and fold square things like napkins, faceclothes, dish clothes etc. all by herself. And she helps me with what I am doing almost constantly. So I would like to continue to encourage her in this area!

I would also like to find more time to read books during the day. We do have our Bible reading, bedtime story time, and read at different other times, but I want to do a better job at this consistently. I would also like to do a better job at rotating our books out as our book shelf for children's books is actually an armoir in Miss Pear's room, and then I rotate out books in her display book case and reading basket for downstairs. (Plus she helps herself constantly, which is great!).

The reading plans are for Baby too, she sits in her highchair at the table with us for meals, so she gets that reading time, plus she sits on my lap if she is awake and I am reading to her sister (only problem is the two of them get smiling at each other and forget about the book!)

Really, I just want to encourage my girls, to love them, to teach them about God and His love for them, and to make sure they know how much they are loved. I can be heard to say that our family may be weird, but they will always know they are loved. Everything else seems to flow out of that.

Miss Pear's Theology

It has been a long time since I posted about Miss Pear and her penchant for theology, 3 year old theology that teaches me much.

This morning while brushing teeth with Daddy she said that God is never going to run away from her.

This morning as she set the table for lunch she was talking to God and said that she loved Him and He was always going to be in her heart.

It is not the exact words, but it is so sweet.

Apple-y Goodness

Okay, so I stole the title from the same post I stole this delicious recipe for apple danish - what could I do, it sounded so delicious and apples were on sale for $0.50 a pound!

And it was delicious! The only changes I made were that I used my food processor to make the pastry, and upped the cinnamon to about 1 tbsp.

I would invite you over to try some, but we ate it all, our neighbors helped.....

In the Kitchen Part 3

So far for in the kitchen I have talked about my goals of saving money shopping, cooking through 3 cookbooks, and doing a better job with meal planning (actually, just returning to what I was doing).

My last kitchen goal, at the risk of sounding like a business seminar, is to cut back on waste. In my business days this was a term constantly bandied around. We had to cut out waste in processes, in materials used, in resources used, etc.

So the next time someone says I am wasting my business degree I can prove them wrong. I am using those concepts to manage our home!

What will this look like?

1. Don't throw in that extra bit of leftover whatever because the recipe does not call for the full amount of meat/veggies/whatever, try to combine it with another meal so I can use the rest of it the next night. (For example I had 3 meals I wanted to make that called for the following quantities of ground beef - 3/4 lb, 1 lb, 3/4 lb so I picked up a package that was approximately 2.5 lbs (and on sale), cooked up the whole thing and divided it up rather than getting a 1 lb package for a 3/4 lb meal.
2. At the risk of contradicting #1, bulk out a meal with veggies. So often casseroles call for so much meat and so little veggies, and I can make one meal's worth of meat suddenly become 2 by adding extra veggies.
3. Doing a better job with my leftovers! We often eat leftovers for lunch, but there is nothing wrong with a hodge podge meal of leftovers! Or carrying leftover veggies to the next meal. Or reworking them into another meal! (I love leftover rice and veggies, they make the best fried rice!)
4. Do a better job of watching my fruit and veggies for pending spoilage so that I can do something with them before that!
5. Do a better job of saving the ends of the bread loaves for other purposes.
   

And I have the time to do this because both girls like being in the kitchen! I put baby in her high chair (which was a gift and has a slight recline function for this age) and put her at the end of the counter. In front of the counter but right beside her is where I put Miss Pear on a step stool, and then I stand beside her so that I can put things on my right side that I don't want either girl to have, and Baby can smile at Miss Pear - a favorite pass time.

Do you have ideas or goals in this area?

In The Kitchen Part 2

A year ago I was faithful to my menu plan. I filled it out, I shopped to it, I made what was on it. Oh sure, I probably swapped meals here and there, but for the most part I followed it very carefully.

Now it seems like I fill out the suppers and the full weekend and am forever swapping stuff out and forever wondering what we are having for lunch. Forever wondering if that is what I really want to make. Forever second guessing it. That's not good, plus it is usually very wasteful!

So I have a couple goals in this area.

• To faithfully fill out the menu plan.
• To follow the menu plan.
• To work on my list of reliable, inexpensive breakfast and lunch ideas.
• To have a list of fast emergency meals for when my plan gets blown out of the water.
• To have a lose plan in my head were Wednesday is game night, so plan something fun where everything can go in the dishwasher, Monday is Slow Cooker night...etc. Some nights might need a couple headers as we love breakfast for supper but it can get old if we do it each week (plus, you have to call it breakfast for dinner and sing the song).

I also love having a well stocked pantry and freezer, but I would not say I do an excellent job on managing it, and I don't put a whole lot of thought into how I stock it (oh, we use that! It's on a great sale! Buy some!), so I would like to get a better handle on this.

And finally, my husband's work has this eating out atmosphere, almost no one brings lunch. And slowly he has been sucked into this more than he would like after a month of catered lunches for a big project they did. So his goal is to cut way back. Which means that my goal is to constantly have a good rotating assortment of cookies, muffins, sweet breads, fruit, and lunches available for him. This is all stuff I make myself, and he just loads up his lunch box with whatever sounds good to him that morning.

I have a lot of kitchen goals, but I call them goals because they are things I am working towards, areas that I want to do better in, and with all things, improvement is a process, not an instantaneous thing.

In the Kitchen

I admire all those women who can formulate one post about their goals for the year. Clearly I am not one of them. So I am just plodding along in different areas. While I could just skip it, I think writing them down helps, and I hope that having written them I will feel accountable!

Plus I need help.

Like many women I am looking for creative ways to cut costs on groceries, after all, my new goal is to make my grocery/household include diapers and wipes too. So while I continue to work on my shopping techniques, I am looking for simpler or cheaper meals that we really like.

So I have three things I would like to do.

1. Cook through the More-With-Less Cookbook (World Community Cookbook) this year - not doing all the recipes, but doing all the recipes that appeal to us. I really like this cookbook but find I need to add a bit more seasoning to recipes. If you have this cookbook and love it, please share some of your favorites with me! (And please include adjustments you make!)
2. Cook through the Extending the Table: A World Community Cookbook
   - this is the international sister book of More With Less. So far I am not horribly impressed, but think it has good potential. Plus, I already own a copy so I want to work through it. And, once again, if you have this cookbook and love it, please share some of your favorites with me! (And please include adjustments you make!)
3. Cook my way through Super Suppers Cookbook as the grocery sales allow. A well stocked freezer has saved us lots of money through the years when we are stressed, sick, or just tired. I love having a good stash of meals in there and would like to cook through this book to expand my repertoire. (Plus, I have heard rumors of a Super Suppers 2 cookbook...)
   

Does anyone want to cook through these with me? We could share reviews!

Living Word

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow,
and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12

I have been thinking about my Bible reading time lately, actually, I am ashamed to say, my lack of it. It seems like so often the end of the day comes and my Bible remains unopened. Not from lack of want, but from lack of quality time. Oh sure, I have my kitchen Bible, and try to read a chapter to the girls at breakfast, but that is different, and not what I am talking about, I am talking about time with God in His Word, just the two of us. After reading this post though, I am encouraged. I need to stop thinking that my Bible reading is going to come in large chunks of uninterrupted time any time soon, and instead look realistically at what I can do.

So here is my goal:

1. Read 1 chapter of the Bible each morning to the girls at breakfast. If breakfast doesn't work, do it at lunch.
2. Read in my Bible for the first 15 minutes that both girls are napping. If at the end of Miss Pear's nap there has not been a 15 minute block, give her books and set the time for both of us to read.
3. Consistently put out my Kitchen Bible.

I would love to cultivate the habit of getting up before my family to have my quiet time, but truthfully, I need the sleep right now with two little ones and nursing during the night still. But one day, when the Lord shows me it is time, it will be a habit to develop again.

Reality...

Lest after this post you think Miss Pear is an angel and we are a perfect family, I bring you this post.

Tonight I had to call Poison Control for the very first time ever. (And as nice as they are, I hope the last).

Miss Pear pulled a substantial amount of leaves off my Jade plant and then bit/partially ate one leaf.

I know it is non-toxic, but when I saw the results I was suddenly very unsure, so I called...my motto is better safe than sorry.

The nice man assured me that it was okay, and told me that he did the same thing as a child...to his grandfather's plant. So while she might have a bit of an unhappy tummy, she will be fine.

Oh sure, she is going to be fine! Scared 10 years off my life, but she will be fine.

Sigh.

Teaching Compassion

I don't really know how to do this, like many things with motherhood sometimes I feel like I am forging new ground, and sometimes I feel like I am just winging it. But I want our daughters to grow to be compassionate women, and not just the kind the express it with words, but also back it up with deeds.

So each week, my goal is to find a way to express compassion or care to someone we love.

When a dear older friend of ours was in the hospital Miss Pear colored her a picture to help her feel better. As I explained what we were doing she got very excited and did a very good job. That was in December.

So now as we begin our new schedule, we are looking again for people. And, sadly, there are many people around us who could do well with extra love. A dear family has a very sick loved one, and it is the kind of sick that is long term. This morning Miss Pear colored an angel picture for her, doing her very best to stay in the lines (she is 3 and a half, that is really hard for her, but she tried so hard), and doing her very best to sign her name at the bottom.

Then she told me what she wanted me to write on top, and I almost cried.

There is a hymn/lullaby that we sing around here to offer comfort. I sang it almost constantly when Baby was sick with meningitis, and Miss Pear learned the words. So she sang it for our friend, and I wrote down the words.

I don't think I will have to teach Miss Pear to be compassionate, it is already there in her very loving heart. And I don't think I will have to teach her to act on that compassion, I just need to show her the opportunities.

We plan on doing lots of coloring pages, and also some baking.

Miss Pear and her Catechism

We are working on teaching Miss Pear the Shorter Catechism, which is really the Westminster Confession for children. It is a goal we are working towards...

So Sunday night we were going through the questions we knew to review as we had missed a few weeks with the holidays, people being sick, and Baby's adventures.

Question 9 should read:

Q. 9. What is God?
A. God is a Spirit, and has not a body like men.

In our house it went like this:

Daddy: What is God?
Miss Pear: a Spirit! (she talks in exclamation marks a lot)
Daddy: and?
Miss Pear: The Commander!

At which point I broke into complete hysterics and missed the rest of it!

Note: We don't actually use the web page, we use an excellent book with stories and the questions in more modern language. I will link to it later.

Cards for Next Christmas

Next Christmas I would like to make some gift tags, small gift cards, and note cards to accompany gifts that I would like to include an explanation on.

So once again I am working my way through the things I loved to save them to my hard drive so I have them for next year. And I am only looking at things that I already have the stamps for. Also, I am only copying things that tell me everything they used so that it is easier!

I LOVE the Snowman with a Punch from Stampin' Pretty! I think this will be a note card set for presents next year (we live so far from family that we always do a picture Christmas card of the girls).

For the rest of this post I am looking for ways to use my Deer Friends stamp set that was a Stampin' Up Hostess Set in the second half of last year (it might still be available).

For gift tags and small gift cards I am thinking the following are good options (of course, so will have to be made smaller!):

• Deer Friends Gingerbread Card
• Deer Friends Christmas Ball (I don't have the big scallop punch so I will just cut rounds)
• Christmas Holiday Notes selection (this could actually be a great gift too)
• Holiday Gift Tags - I plan on making these early for us to use but also as a start of Advent gift for some family members, and I also hope to host a gift tag swap with some friends!
• Gift Tags - I love these simple gift tags too!
• More Gift Tags - these are so pretty with the embossing, and you can actually get embossed looking paper now if the idea of embossing scares you (or you have yet to do it successfully like me!)
• Christmas Tags - and with that I will stop looking at gift tags!
  

And I saw a couple crafts that would be a cute gift/present decoration:

• Candy Cane
• Candy Cane Reindeer

And a lot of our friends drink Martinelli's Sparkling Juice and Cider for Christmas and New Year, so THIS would be a great gift! Then again cookie recipes are always great too!

Plus I can see a variation of this card being our family Christmas thank you card for next year!

There is another Christmas stamp set I got this year that I used this year to decorate our Christmas letters, but when I get a chance I will be looking for some ideas for that set too!

(Plus, if I have a plan, when my friends throw stamping parties and I feel like I should really buy something I can get something small that will go with my plan!)

Another Monday, Another Check-Up

Baby Pear had another check in with the pediatric orthopedic surgeon today, and he remains happy with everything. He made some adjustments to accommodate growth, and as always managed to say something unintentionally that encouraged me.

He always checks the skin in the folds of Baby's hip because they are so hard to clean and so easy for an infection or skin rash to start in, and to be honest, it is an area I really work hard on, but really feel like I am struggling in, plus Baby had a very full poopy diaper right as we got there and I was struggling to clean it out of all her folds and be quick about it so we did not hold up the doctor. Any way, he commented that Baby had the best skin care he had seen in a long time and that I should be giving lessons. So that did my mommy heart good.

Thank you so much for all the prayers and words of encouragement. They are helping so much.

In other health news, Mr. Pear remains the only cold free person in our house. It was a very long Friday and weekend around here, but the girls both seem to be on the mend, and Mommy understands she is not allowed to be sick when Mr. Pear is at work, so we are going with that!