December Daily 2011...DONE!!!

You may or may not remember this post where I talked of my plan to create a December Daily mini-book for 2011.  The idea behind it is that you capture the moments of December and put them all in a scrapbook.  Because December is usually a crazy month, ideally you try and finish as much as the scrapbook ahead of time so that all you have to do is stick the pictures in later and journal.  It is something I have been wanting to do for the Taelin's first two Christmas' but it didn't happen...but it did this year!!!

Here are a few pictures...

The cover...which you already saw in the other post.  But this time the ribbons are all there.

If I could have fit more ribbon on these rings and still been able to open it, I would have.  There is NO such thing as too much ribbon.

The day we went to hear the singing at the Capitol building. It was one of my favorite moments of December.

Getting our Christmas tree

Some days I just didn't get a picture...so I just wrote about it.  Often times, those were our craziest days! 

Decorating sugar cookies...another one of my favorite moments.

Some ended up being two pages.  Christmas Eve was one of those days...here is the first page...

and here is the second page.  (That is us leaving cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.)

I really did have a lot of fun with this project.  I was cursing it a little bit in the middle of things just because I started to feel like one more thing I had to get done, but I am so happy I did it.  It was only a month ago and I already had fun reading the journaling and looking at the pictures.

It is pretty simple in terms of embellishments on the pages.  I could have added a lot more, but to honest I just wanted to capture the pictures and the stories.  I don't want to get too far behind with all my scrapbooking and while I love all the little stuff, it takes a lot longer.  

As a little bit of a bonus project, I decided to do something with the Christmas cards and pictures we got in the mail.  I saw an idea on Pinterest where the person bound all the cards and letters and packed it up with the Christmas stuff.  Then the next year (and subsequent years) you can see how families grow and change.  I decided to use our own picture as the cover and just used number stickers to indicate the year.  I didn't get it done in time for it to get packed up with the Christmas stuff, but I did get it done before next Christmas...and that is saying something!

dystopia: a society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding.

I am clearly going to out myself as a person that is not very well read because of this post.  I was reading a review of The Curfew on Goodreads and came across this word.  Because I had just read the book, I had a pretty good idea of what this word meant but would not have been able to put it into words.  So my curiousity got the better of me (encouraged by the need for my word of the week) and I took a look.

And now I know.

The Curfew by Jesse Ball

I started and finished this book rather quickly.  It helped that it was only 195 pages, but I really attribute to the quick read to the absolute need to find out what happened.

It is hard to even really be able to describe the style of this book except to say that is it wonderfully odd.  It is very much character driven, which I love but it isn't like some of the books that Joe loves that practically need a spreadsheet in order to keep track of who is who.

The store follows a father and his mute daughter that are trying to fly under the radar in a police state that is never really fully explained.  There is a curfew (hence the title) is strict and the father is a given a reason to break that is hard to resist.  The story follows the father and his daughter in a quite peculiar way.  I can't really say anymore without giving the story away.

I became very connected to the characters in the book, especially considering I didn't have much time.  Even though I have finished the book days ago, I have thought of the each of the characters every day wondering what kind of choices I might have been given the same circumstances.  It is such a strange world they live in yet with the relationships so familiar it is impossible to wonder what I would do.

Jesse Ball has written two books before this one and they are definitely going on my to-read list on Goodreads.

Next up....

remora: an obstacle, hindrance, or obstruction

I am behind again with my Wordy Wednesday. (I will get back on track after my class is done....three weeks left!)  It has been a bit of a busy week here.  There was some crazy weather this week that resulted in some major flooding around town.  Joe's work actually was in one of the areas in town that was evacuated.  Schools requested that parents come and pick their kids up early on Thursday and they outright cancelled school on Friday. Some places were hit badly and I thought that we would be safe as we aren't by any creeks.  Not so much.

I came home on Thursday (which was the worst of it) and the house smelled.  I thought that it was a load of laundry that had stood in the washer a day too long (please tell me I am not the only one that does this...) so I reran the washer with vinegar and a little bleach and went about my afternoon.  A couple of hours later Joe came home and I found out I was oh so wrong.

Turns out the water table was so high because of the flooding that the water actually seeped up from the ground into our crawl space.  We have plenum heating which was popular when the house was built because it was supposed to be more energy efficient.  I don't really understand how it is supposed to work other than we don't have vents in our crawl space to the outside and the crawl space is filled with fine sand.

Joe went right for the guest bedroom which has access to the crawl space.  He lifted the access panel which revealed giant puddles of standing water.  He crawled down there and had to move quickly.  Luckily, there wasn't standing water everywhere. The best way I can describe it is to compare it to how it is walking along the beach right at the water's edge.  It wasn't enough to get a sump pump but it was enough that is a huge problem.  Much of the insulation will need to be replaced and we are really concerned about mold.  Part of how the plenum heating works is by heating the sand, which is supposed to hold heat longer and then require less heating.  Well, now it is a dark, damp and warm (when the heat is on) place; perfect for mold.

We went and bought a dehumidifier which has a 45 pint capacity.  We actually put it in the crawl space and have been emptying it every 4 hours (that is almost 6 gallons).  Cranking the heat seemed like a logical thing to do to dry it out, but my sister did some quick research and found out that running the air conditioner is actually a better idea (warm=mold) so we have been trying to do that when we can stand it.

This is a pain in the ass for sure.  A remora that is not welcome.

Luckily, though, it has gotten better.  The water has receded across town and there are no longer standing puddles of water in the crawl space. There are actually parts of the sand (on top at least) that were wet that are now dry.  We didn't lose any of our belongings and while the house really stinks we still have a house and we have the means to solve that problem eventually. There is huge damage across town and I am so, so grateful that we are not facing that kind of loss.  Some of the pictures of the damage were absolutely heartbreaking.

Bean and Ham Soup

I have been on a bit of a soup kick lately.  I really love soup and the weather we have been having around here has been perfect for it.  One soup that has been on my "I really want to make" list has been a bean and ham soup.  When I was a kid we were a strictly Campbell's soup family and one of my favorite was the Bean and Bacon soup.  There is a restaurant that is close to my office that serves homemade soup and bagels that is perfect for a "fast" lunch without being fast food.  Every once and awhile they serve a Bean and Ham soup and if they have it, I get it.

Joe will eat soup but it isn't his favorite meal...I don't think he would even consider it a meal without a sandwich and a bag of popcorn later on. He is a trooper when I make chicken soup or beef barley soup when having leftovers, but I knew I would be pushing my luck with a bean and ham soup. But luckily, (for lots of reasons) my cousin and her daughter came down last week for a play date and I decided to take advantage of having another soup lover in the house and try a new recipe.

I didn't want to go the route of ham bone because it takes too long and it is more fat than I want.  So, I looked a few different recipes and combined a few different things to get the maximum flavor balanced with the time and health factor.  The result was pretty yummy...

Ingredients
2 (15.5 ounce) cans white navy beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups carrots, diced
1/2 small onion, chopped
2 teaspoons olive oil
3 cups chicken broth (I used fat free, low sodium)
1 1/2 cups cubed fully cooked ham

Directions
1. Mash one can of beans; set aside.
2. In a large saucepan, saute the carrots and onion in olive oil.
3. Stir in the chicken broth, ham, and whole and mashed beans.
4. Simmer over medium heat for about 20-25 minutes.

This recipe was super yummy and super easy.  I ate some for leftovers and it was really good then too.  My bet would be that it would freeze pretty well as beans and carrots hold up.  

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

The other night I finally finished The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley.  I started reading it the day Joe had his back surgery in October.  There is a reason it took me so long to finish it.

I bought this book when Borders was going out of business this fall.  I LOVED the title of the book and the murder mystery that was suggested on the back cover intrigued me.  I checked the rating the book got on Goodreads and it was pretty high so I decided to pick it up.  It is a first in a series and I was hoping that maybe I could find a temporary reading home with some well-loved characters.

I have written before about my preference for character driven fiction vs event or setting driven fiction.  The main character of this story is an eleven year old year girl.  She is not a typical girl at all...fun and sassy in all the right ways, BUT the narration for me just didn't work.  The story was set in the 1950's in the countryside of England with a murder being committed early on in the book. The girl sets out to solve the mystery but is forced to do so among long winded explanations of stamps and unnecessary adjectives.  It just didn't fit.  I want my mysteries to be fast paced and suspenseful, and while that did happen towards the end, it took too long to get there.  By then, I was kind of bored and just really wanted to know who-did-it.

I wanted to love this book because of the title and the little girl, but I didn't.  I did finish it so it wasn't awful, but I don't really intend on picking up any of the rest of the series.

Next up for me....

A child, like your stomach, doesn't need all you can afford to give it. ~Frank A. Clark

Today I took advantage of the fact that many of my fellow Oregonians would stay home because of the snow and did all my grocery shopping for the week.  Taelin and I ventured out with our lists for Fred Meyers and Trader Joes with an additional stop to get Taelin a haircut.  Each of the places the same thing happened...which led me here.

Before I get started, I want to fess up to the fact that I know that Taelin has far more than she actually needs. From the toys and books she has to the clothes in her closets and drawers, Taelin is a very lucky girl.  She has a lot of people that love her (which is awesome) and I try hard to resist getting her "stuff" for the sake of getting her something. I will admit that when there is a book order at the front desk of her preschool I am going to thumb through it and probably will get her something.  That being said, we are also very careful not to give into every whim that Taelin has nor do we give in after we say no.  (As a teacher, I have seen the results of kids that bargain their way out of "no"..and I would like to avoid that if at all possible.  They just aren't very pleasant kids to be around for a few reasons.)

So, back to today.  The first store we went to was Trader Joe's.  We just had a few things to pick up there.  (As a side, note their pre-cooked frozen brown rice is YUMMY!)  I think we maybe had 6-7 different things in the cart.  We got through the store pretty quickly and got to the checkout stand.  Taelin helped me put the things on the counter and was holding onto the flowers we had picked out when the check-out lady asked me if she could have a sticker.  I appreciated the fact that she asked me and I turned to Taelin and asked her if she wanted a sticker.  Taelin, not surprisingly, said yes.  I told the check-out lady and asked her to just give her one.  Taelin went around to get the stickers and came back with three.  "I got three!" she yelled.  "She was just too cute for just one sticker," was the reply of the lady.  Taelin thanked her with some prompting from me and we proceeded on to the next store.

At Fred Meyers it took us a little longer to get through just because our list was a little bigger.  And we had one of those huge plastic car carts that are really hard to steer.  Taelin calls it "her lucky day" when we get to the store and there is one of those left...I call it something else.  Anyway, we get to the check-out counter and this lady also offers Taelin a sticker.  Taelin looks at me and I said, "How lucky!  You get another sticker.  Just one please."  The lady then proceeded to hand Taelin two.  "She needs one for each hand Mommy!"

On to the haircut store, where luckily there was no wait at all.  Taelin sat really still during her haircut and as I was signing the debit card slip, the hair dresser says, "Come and pick out a sticker!  You sat so still!"  The well meaning lady gave Taelin the entire box of stickers to look at and I (thinking that it was going to take all day for her to decide) said, "Just pick one Taelin.  We need to take the food home and put it away."  At that point, Taelin quickly found a flower sticker and said thank you.  Then the hair dresser said, "Oh, and you need this Tinkerbell one.  And here is one with a Dora.  You just did so well sitting still."  Taelin took them, I didn't say anything and off we went.

Some people might not necessarily see a huge problem with what happened and in the big scheme of things it certainly isn't a world order problem, BUT there are a couple of things that just irritated me about the whole thing.

First, and foremost, I had said "just one" each time and was ignored each time.  Those nice ladies can think whatever they want about what is "enough" but I had clearly stated my preference and they, each for a different reason dismissed it.  I don't care if other kids have 2, 3 or 10 stickers, but as Taelin's mother I wanted her to just have one.

Second, Joe and I really feel strongly that we don't want to reward Taelin for things we just expect her to do.  We expect her to sit still while getting her hair cut.  It takes like 2-3 actual minutes and she can sit that long.  We expect her to have appropriate behavior in a store and when she doesn't (and she sometimes doesn't) it results in us leaving the store for a time-out in the car.  Every time we have had to do that so far we have been able to return to the store and finish our shopping.

Third...I can't even really get into the third one too far without taking this post way off track.  I don't want Taelin to think that being cute gets her things.  I know...beauty is often rewarded in our society, but I don't have to like it and I don't have encourage it.

Again, I don't really care what other people want to do with their children.  I know that for some people they wouldn't bat an eye and would probably think I have my panties in a bunch.  Fine, but for Taelin I want her to be content with what she has, not always expect more than is needed, and realize that sometimes you just do things because you have to do them not because you get something for doing it. Is that really so crazy? I don't think it is...what you end up with are kids that won't do anything without a sticker, a piece of candy, etc...and when the get sick of those little things, they just up the ante.

I am sure there are things that we will screw up in raising Taelin; there probably already are.  Maybe it bothered me so much because it happened 3 times in a 90 minute period.  Maybe it bothers me because Taelin got so many stickers that she didn't even really pay attention to what happened to them.  (In case you are curious, they are littered across the backseat of my already too messy car.)

Today's experience is giving me a lot of food for thought.  As I already admitted, Taelin is not a girl that wants for anything but I don't think we have gone overboard and provided stuff for her just because we could.  She has asked us for things many times and many times we say no.  We are upfront with her about our reason for it, even if it is a bit more than she can really understand.

Some of the greatest gifts we can give her, that will serve her well throughout her life, can't be packaged in a gift bag or wrapped in a pretty bow.  They aren't going to be saved for a special occasion and they probably, in some cases, will seem like anything but a gift.  (I would imagine that will come later with the introduction of "But blah-blah's mom let's her ________________!")

This road we are on is going to be a winding one.  There will be times were she disappoints us and when we disappoint her.  There will probably be things that we all end up wishing we hadn't said.  There will be things we do that are out of character for all of us, even as we try to figure out who we are as we change in this journey together.  There will be moments we wish would be able to get back to make a different choice.

But, there will also be times of absolute pride, joy and love.  I experience them every day in little ways and feel like it is my "lucky day" every time I do.  I have to believe that the influence the three of all have on each other is bigger than a few stickers from well-meaning people.

Golden Chicken with Tomatoes and Olives

I was really on a roll the other night.  I actually made two different recipes from my Pinterest board.  It is kind of running joke among some of just more addicted Pinterest folk that we "pin" way more than we would actually ever do.  I think in some cases the things I pin aren't necessarily something I am going to do anytime soon...but the recipe board I have is a different story.  I have so many recipes pinned that I could easily finish the 18 I have left of my 50.

I found this one and was really excited for two main reasons.  First, I am always looking for new chicken recipes.  We eat mostly boneless, skinless chicken breast (mostly because of Weight Watchers but also because Joe doesn't like picking fat off his meat) and the same ole, same ole gets a little boring.  Second, Joe loves green olives.  I mean, really loves green olives.  This recipe had both so it was a shoe in for trying out.

Golden Chicken with Tomatoes and Olives


Ingredients
4 teaspoons olive oil
16 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast (cut into 2 1/2 inch pieces)
kosher salt
black pepper
1/2 large onion, thinly sliced
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1 cup large pimiento-stuffed olives, quartered
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 olive juice
3/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Directions
1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
2. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Cook until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate.
3. Add the onion to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 5 to 6 minutes.
4. Add the tomatoes, olives, and garlic and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.
5. Return the chicken to the skillet and add the chicken broth and olive juice.
6. Simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has slightly thickened, 4 to 6 minutes.
7. Stir in the parsley.

I changed this recipe a little from the original one that I found.  The original (that is linked above) used  3/4 cup of white wine.  I don't like white wine and I am certainly not going to add points to a recipe when it is something I don't like.  I decided instead to add fat free chicken broth and the olive juice for a little added flavor.  I also used less olive oil and less onion than the original recipe.  The original recipe was also served with rice, but to me this recipe was just screaming for pasta...so that's what I did.  Next I will use angel hair and that will soak up some of the sauce really well.  It was definitely a keeper!

Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake

This last weekend I was hankering to bake something but didn't really want the results of said baking hanging around the house.  I realized not too far into my hankering that I had a staff meeting on Tuesday and that I had not been very forth coming in my contributions in terms of food.  I remembered a recipe I had pinned on Pinterest for a blueberry something or other and went to take a look if it would fit the bill.  Boy did it ever! 

I couldn't believe I actually had all the ingredients on hand.  I had to use frozen blueberries instead of fresh, but it still tasted great!  Unlike cooking where I rarely follow a recipe as it is written, I tend to follow baking recipes exactly as they are written.  So...here is the link to the original recipe.

Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Ingredients

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature

2 tsp. lemon zest or more — zest from 1 large lemon

7/8 cup* + 1 tablespoon sugar**

1 egg, room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. kosher salt

2 cups fresh blueberries

½ cup buttermilk

* 7/8 cup = 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons

** This 1 tablespoon is for sprinkling on top

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Cream butter with lemon zest and 7/8 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy.

2. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Meanwhile, toss the blueberries with ¼ cup of flour, then whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt.

3. Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk. Fold in the blueberries.

4. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan (or something similar) with butter or coat with non-stick spray. Spread batter into pan. Sprinkle batter with remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake for 35 minutes. Check with a toothpick for doneness. If necessary, return pan to oven for a couple of more minutes. (Note: Baking for as long as 10 minutes more might be necessary.) Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

It was really, really good!  I let it rest for the 15 minutes that the recipe called for but then had a piece while it was still warm.  Amazing...  It was good the next day too...really moist.   

I had to bake it for much longer than the recipe called for.  I actually lost track of how much longer and just had to go by the color of the cake and the toothpick trick.  I am guessing that part of the issue was that my blueberries were frozen.  I don't know.  I waited until the last possible moment to pull the blueberries out of the freezer and add to the batter.  The other thing that cause a bit of stress was how sticky the batter was.  I was thinking that it would be more like a bake batter and would easily fill the pan by itself...that was not the case.  Next time I will make sure that I spoon it out a little more evenly and then just press it in.

All in all, this recipe is definitely a keeper! 

dispirit: to deprive of morale or enthusiasm

It has been a little over a month since I last attended class.  I am feeling a tad dispirited that the month is over.  It is definitely a sign.  There was some quiet dissension among the rank and file of the class about some of the upcoming dates for the the rest of the 3 classes of this certificate.

(For those of you that are wondering what I am talking about....I got caught up in the excitement that others felt about a writing certificate program that is being started at a local university. It is suppose to run pretty much every Wednesday evening for the rest of the year.  The focus is supposed to be writing instruction.  There are a lot of "supposed to's"....)

Anyway, there have been a few sign from the very beginning.  Mainly having to do with the fact that once I drop Taelin off on Wednesday morning, I don't see her again until the following morning.  That isn't working for either of us.  Joe picks her up and they have a great time, but....yeah, it just isn't okay.

Even though I am 95% sure of my decision, I am waiting to see the outcome of tomorrow night's class before I make any final decisions.

Homemade Noodles

One of my favorite things this time of year is soup.  I usually make homemade soup after either having roasted chicken or a pot roast because it is a good way to use leftovers.  The best thing about making soup from leftovers is that I usually make a pot that is way too big for one meal and then I have leftover soup!

The problem with leftover soup, if there can actually be a problem, is with the noodles.  Using store brought noodles works fine for the first night of the soup, but the next day the noodles have soaked up too much broth and just kind of fall apart.  Egg noodles work a little better but I don't like the taste as much.  Recently Joe said that maybe thicker noodles would hold up a little better.

I looked for thicker noodles at the grocery store, but honestly they were a lot more expensive and I just couldn't spend the money on them.  It was then that I decided that maybe I should try my hand at making my own noodles.  I have seen many different examples around different blogs of people trying this and I thought I would give it a chance.  There were quite a few recipes out there and I just picked the one that had the least amount of fat.  I also used a less salt because I knew that there would be salt in the soup and that Joe would salt the soup anyway.

Ingredients
1 cup of flour plus extra for rolling out
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 egg
2 1/2 Tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon olive oil

Directions
1. Mix the flour and sea salt in a bowl.  Make a little well in the bottom of the bowl.
2. Beat the egg in a separate bowl and then add to the well.  Then add the water and oil.
3. Mix the ingredients together until they are mostly combined.  Turn over onto a well-floured surface and knead until it forms a nice ball of dough.
4. Flour a rolling pin and roll out the dough until you reach the thickness.  I had to flip the dough a couple of time and this step took me a little longer than I expected.
5. Once it is rolled to the thickness you want, use a pizza cutter to cut into strips and then into the length you want.
6. I added them to my pot of soup at this point and let them cook for at least 15 minutes.  I guess you can let them dry and then store them, but I used them right away.

Let me just say...they were amazing!  Joe, who barely puts up with soup for dinner, actually went back for seconds.  And, I had a bowl of soup for lunch today and they were just as good!  YAY!  This recipe is definitely going to be a keeper!  Yummy!!!

Herbed Rice Pilaf

I like flavored rice.  You know, the kind that comes in a box that is really easy to make...and loaded with sodium.  Yeah, that kind.  I stopped buying that kind awhile ago but miss having flavor sometimes.  So, I have been looking for recipes that might help me out with my flavorful rice.

I found a couple landed on this one from www.allrecipes.com.  I decreased the butter by half and doubled the onions, but other than that made the recipe as written.  I also used fat-free chicken broth.


Ingredients
2 cups uncooked long grain rice
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
2 Tablespoons cup butter or margarine
4 cups fat-free chicken broth
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme

Directions
1. In a skillet, saute rice, celery and onion in butter until the rice is lightly browned and the vegetables are tender. Spoon into a greased 2-qt. casserole.
2.  Combine all remaining ingredients; pour over rice mixture. Cover and bake at 325 degrees F for 50 minutes or until the rice is done.

It smelled like dressing and had the flavor of dressing, probably because of the thyme.  Joe, who likes his rice flavored with soy sauce, flavored this rice with soy sauce too.  I think next time I will leave the thyme out and add a different spice.  It was good and I would eat it again, but I didn't love it and will keep trying. I guess if it something tastes like dressing, I want it to actually be dressing.  The process of making this rice could easily be done again with other vegetables and spices which makes me excited for the possibilities!

“So many books, so little time.” ~ Frank Zappa

A week ago I was lucky enough to dedicate an entire day to scrapbooking with some friends.  We started talking about books we had read lately and I realized I had nothing to contribute.  One of my friends said, "You haven't had any books on your blog for awhile!"  and she is right.

It isn't that I haven't been reading.  I have been reading a lot...but they have just been books for work or more reference books that you don't ever really finish.  Here is some of what has been occupying my reading time...

Not really a cook book...but kind of...but not really...

My attempt to better understand yoga poses

A book study that I am doing with some of the new teachers

A book about increasing student engagement

Another book about engagement

So you see, I have been reading.  All of them all pretty good...for what they are.  None of them though I would call entertaining...informative, yes but not entertaining. 

This week though I dusted off the novel that I started back when Joe has his surgery.  And because that was the last time I read it and there was a kitchen remodel right after, I really did have to actually dust it off.  I read quite a bit Friday night before falling asleep. 

I mostly picked it because I couldn't help but love the title

So far it is okay...it is the first in the series and at this point I can't see me picking up the second one.  Like Frank Zappa says..."So many books, so little time.?"

And a little plug for any of you readers out there that might not have heard about it....  http://www.goodreads.com/ is one of my favorite websites out there.  It can help you keep track of books that you have read, books that you want to read, books that you are reading.  You can read review of books, browse books...you can easily lose an hour or two if you wanted to.  It is free to join and they don't ask you for any personal information. I personally link it to my facebook because it made it easier for me to find "friends" (you can follow what other people are reading too) but you certainly could just do it for yourself.

  

Wordy Wednesday: 2 days late...again

I am a little behind with my word this week....I don't know why I am having such a hard time keeping up with this one.   Here are a few of the "word of the days" from this week that could have have been found around in the internet....

sprat: a small or inconsequential person or thing  (this one makes me kind of sad...I don't like the idea of a inconsequential person)

calaboose: a local jail  (this one would be fun to work into a conversation)

feckless: lacking purpose or vitality; feeble or ineffective (this one could have been useful a little earlier this week...but I am feeling better)


bombastic: high-sounding; high-flown; inflated; pretentious (this one I found in an article about a politician..I like it a lot...the word, not the politician) 


So there you go...maybe you can find a way to work one of these into a conversation this weekend.  Is there anyone out there that thinks that could work all four of these into a sentence?  Hmm...I am going to have work on that....

Going back to work...getting up really early...time for a little gratitude!

Last night I went to set my alarm for the first time in forever and I have to admit that my initial reaction was a combination of groaning and whining.  I caught myself before I got to far and said to myself, "Be grateful you have to set your alarm; you have a job."

So, I decided that before I went to bed that I needed to quickly make a list of a few of the things I was grateful for over the last couple of weeks....


*Christmas break
*glitter nail polish and pedicures with friends
*huge counters for preparing food for Joe's birthday
*a daughter that shows gratitude and kindness on her own (a really cute story that needs to be told when there is more time)
*day of scrapbooking with friends
*conversations with friends not seen often enough
*Taelin reading books on her own (makes this Mama proud)
*the matching aprons my mom made for Taelin and I...there will be some kind of baking this Friday
*Joe's job and the mandatory vacation time he has to take...this will allow for some awesome family time soon...and some things to get checked off the list!
*having a job to set an alarm for

Gratitude is an art of painting an adversity into a lovely picture.  ~Kak Sri

(I am working on it...)

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. ~Hans Hofmann

My life is not simple.  I don't know anybody that would say that their life is simple.  I don't really expect it to be simple but I would like some things in my life to be simpler.  The purpose, as the above quote suggests, is to make more room for the things that are necessary.  To take it a step further...perhaps to be able to not only just make room for them, but to enjoy them.  Because of that, I made it a goal to try and simplify my life in at least 10 tangible ways.  I think I have found a couple of things, that if they take hold, will make my everyday life simpler.

The first thing I did was get myself back into a cleaning schedule.  For the last couple of years, I used this Motivated Moms chore schedule.  It is a system created to help someone keep up with having a clean house by using a checklist of weekly and daily chores that had to get done.  It took a little work to get up and running, but once I had it going it didn't take as much time everyday and my house was always looking good.  More than having things clean, which is important, my brain just functions better when there is less clutter so this schedule helped with that.  I liked it but once the kitchen fire happened it all went out the window.

This year, I am trying something a little different based on some research I have done on the different systems out there.  In many of the reviews, a lot of people championed Jen Allyson's weekly planner.  It is much like the chore schedule that I used before except for that it also has space for menu planning, to-do list, weekly glance...and best of all, I can edit the pdf and customize it how I want.  This meant that I could move the chores around and changes things so that it fit our house and my schedule a little better. For example, I work on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays so I changed those days to be lighter on the chores part.  I moved these things to either Monday or Friday since I am home those days with Taelin and could accomplish things a little easier then.  I spent a few hours working on how I might want it for myself.  I just printed out a few weeks so I can live with it for awhile and will evaluate if there is something I want different from how I have it now.  I know for some people this would seem like a lot of extra work and not simplifying things at all...but I think it has been well established that I like lists.  This list brings organization to a large part of my responsibility which can often feel overwhelming.  It is easy for me to always feel like there is something to do regarding the house (laundry, dusting, bathrooms, vacuuming)...it might sound silly, but I already feel better knowing that I have it to guide me.  

The second thing I did was make a home binder.  The idea is basically to make a central and organized place for the paper "stuff" that accumulates in your home; bills that need to be paid, checks that need to be cashed, coupons that need to be filed, Taelin's school lunch menu, etc.  Before the kitchen remodel, most of this kind of stuff either ended up on the refrigerator or in my purse...in no kind of organized way.  It worked, I guess, but the cluttered nature of this system (if you could call it a system) is that it often too more time that I would have liked to find what I needed when I needed it.  I am hoping that by spending the time up front now by building my binder that I will save time later on.

My binder at this point has 5 different sections.  When I first open the binder, I turn to weekly planner that I just talked about.  I have my to-do list, my menu plan for the week, special events and of course the cleaning plan. When I bought the binder I also bought some dividers that are also folders.  I think this will help quite a bit with some of the papers that end up in piles around the house. 

There is one that is just labeled bills.  We don't have many bills that actually come to our house as most of them are automated, but there are some and so anything that fits that category would go in here.  This will be quite helpful for when Joe is the one that picks up the mail, which is almost always.  This way he will know exactly where it needs to go and I can just check it quickly to see if there is anything I need to take care of.

There is one that is labeled coupons.  These are for the coupons that I come across throughout the week in the various locations one can acquire coupons.  I don't (and won't) take the time everyday to file them in my coupon organizer. Now though, I can quickly file what I find away and then just organize them once a week on Sunday.  I used to be really good about keeping up with my couponing, but I fell out of the habit.  I don't use them as much for food as much of it is for more processed food, but I did for household kind of things (toothpaste, mouthwash, makeup, etc) and I was actually able to save quite a bit of money.  Hopefully this system will help me get back into it all.

There is one that is labeled Taelin.  At this point there isn't much there except for her school lunch menu.  Because of her milk allergy, it is important for me to know which days I need to make her lunch.  It isn't like they would let her starve, but I don't want to be that mom...you know, the one that forgets to make her daughter's lunch. While there isn't much there now, I can only imagine that this is going to be needed soon enough.

The last category I have right now is labeled receipts. I am not a huge receipt keeper.  Regular grocery shopping and gas station trips don't get saved.  But I do need to keep the receipts for daycare expenses and the ones for our Flexible Spending Account.  Also, there are those bigger ticket items that need to be kept for one reason or another.  By having this section, I will have a place that they all go...instead of trying to remember which pocket of my wallet I put them.  

If you are interested in reading more about home binders you can just Google it.  Or look here or here.  There are a LOT of different kind of free printables that are out there, but I am starting simple and will see if a need arises for something in any of my categories.  I may find myself needing to add a category...I just will have to see.

All of this is taking some time right now.  Something like this would make someone else completely crazy. But again, I know myself well enough to know that my time will come back to me.  I know how much energy it takes my brain to try to remember and juggle all of the things I have mentioned in this post.  I know how much it makes me crazy to move the same pile of paper to three different spots because I just don't know what to do with it.  I know how much I hate having my refrigerator full of things that constantly get knocked off and reminding me of what I still need to get done.  All of that is unnecessary...and I think the weekly planner and home binder will help me manage it all.