Life As I See It

Moving

2010-06-27T13:59:00.000-05:00

I have moved!

You can see my new site at

jessicalynette.com

A Good Secret

2010-06-24T11:40:00.000-05:00

Can you read his necklace? It says AFRICA.

And in a few short months the boys and I will be heading over there.

To Nigeria.

I still can't believe it is happening.

My grandparents are missionaries there - and have been for a long, long time.

My mum lived there until she left for college and has only been back a few times in the past 30 years.

I spent the year after I completed highschool living in Nigeria with my grandparents.

It was life changing.

My mum is going over this November and when I told Paul in a wishful thinking sort of way how fun I thought it would be to be in Nigieria with my mum he said we'd make it happen.

And, after much prayer, it is happening.

This past week I have gotten all of my vaccines needed for travel.

My anti malaria pills are currently sitting on our kitchen counter.

The boys have appointments with the international travel doctor the middle of July.

Passport forms are filled out and ready to go in.

I have talked with a travel agent - who has not only given me invaluable information about direct flights from Atlanta to Nigeria (who knew!?!) but he also found prices cheaper than I could find myself.

I am looking at being there for 5 weeks.

5 short weeks in my beloved third home with my grandparents.

5 long weeks away from my love.

While Paul will be greatly missed I am thankful he has encouraged this adventure.

I am so excited to travel with the boys and to introduce them to a new culture of beautiful people.

And I am excited to finally be sharing this with everyone.

Good secrets are meant to be shared.

Schwan's - What to Order, and What Not to Order

2010-06-22T21:06:00.000-05:00

I have ordered food from Schwan's a few times this year and it's such a fun treat as well as wonderfully convenient to have the individually frozen foods waiting for me in the freezer.

I love pouring through their catalog, and have used it several times to inspire my own dinner ideas. It's always scary buying a new food item because you don't know if you'll actually like it or not, so I wanted to share some of the items I love that I think are worth buying and the one item I have tried that I don't love.

From Facebook comments and messages I know quite a few have ordered from Schwan's before and have shared your favorite foods - if you would do it again in the comments here I would appreciate it! That way I will easily be able to find the tried and true favorites when I go to make another order and want to try something new.

My two favorite items from Schwan's are the Chicken Breasts and the Frozen Fruit Blend.

The Chicken Breast turned into a BBQ sandwich on a homemade bun

The chicken breasts are so tender and are equally as good as chicken breasts I have bought from the store that sell for nearly three times the price. These come individually frozen in a large bag, resealable bag - it is so easy to grab out the amount needed for dinner.

The frozen fruit blend is our favorite blend for smoothies that we have tried yet - with strawberries, peaches, mangos and pineapple it is delicious blended up in the green smoothies! The bag says you can thaw and eat them, but I can't quite imagine eating thawed fruit and haven't tried it myself.

Another item we have enjoyed are the Black Angus Steak Burgers. These are really tasty and a good size. I usually make my own burgers, so this isn't something I would order often, but it's been a fun treat to have preformed burgers and these ones taste really good!

The Stuffed Chicken Parmesan is decently good. It's not our favorite, but with a bit of sauce, some extra cheese and a bit of seasoning it can be doctored up to something that is rather amazing. For the price I don't think it's really worth it, but we did enjoy the box we ordered!

The one item that we have tried really hard to enjoy, but don't, are the Mini Steak. They are such a cute idea and since we are huge breakfast people I thought this would be a wonderful addition to a breakfast or brunch - but they come out tasting rubbery. I have tried cooking them a few different ways and it's just not working for me.

You in the Pictures

2010-06-20T21:36:00.001-05:00

I don't have a lot of pictures of me just being with the boys, and over the past week Paul has been changing that and these pictures mean more to me than I would have imagined.

We played Ring Around the Rosy - until the boys, who were wearing white, dramatically fell down at the end of the little chorus onto the red brick. That game ended and we moved on to London Bridges.

We giggled and played and Paul captured the precious moments.

This picture so beautifully captures one of my favorite things about Judah as a 3 year old. Throughout each day he frequently says to me;

"Mommy, hold my hand."

Take some time this week to pass your camera to your spouse or a friend and ask them to take pictures of you just being with your children. Nothing fancy, staged or perfect.

Just the every day.

They will be cherished pictures.

I promise.

Sharing on Chatting at the Sky.

Last Minute

2010-06-18T22:20:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we took a last minute trip to the beach - a 6 hour round trip drive for 2 hours on the beach.

One of my favorite parts about our trips to the beach are the long car rides for us to talk.

Paul talks best when he drives.

I generally like to spend longer at the beach than 2 hours, but it was the best we could do - and I appreciated Paul's adventurous spirit.

It was the exact crazy and fun and bonding experience we needed after some busy times with work and remodeling.

We didn't tell the boys where we were going until we were nearly there.

They were delighted with the surprise and have talked about it all day today.

And are both begging to go back.

I am too.

Grapefruit Alaska

2010-06-16T11:21:00.001-05:00

Grapefruit Alaska

The other night we had a stay at home date that involved a nice dinner after the boys were in bed and us making this dessert together. It was so fun to make together and tasted so uniquely yummy. It is definitely one to make again. The presentation is so fun!

Ingredients:

4 large grapefruit
2 teaspoons rum extract
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped
3 egg whites
1 tsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp cream of tarter
1/4 cup sugar
8 maraschino cherries

Halve grapefruits and section (so, so important!!); drizzle 1/4 teaspoon rum extract over each grapefruit half. Top with 1 rounded tablespoon of whipped cream, place on a foil lined baking sheet.
In a large bowl beat the egg whites, cornstarch and cream of tarter on medium speed until soft peaks form.
Gradually beat in sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, until stiff, glossy peaks form and sugar is dissolved. Mound 1/2 cup on each grapefruit half; spread meringue to edges to seal.
Bake at 350 F for 15 minutes or until meringue is brown. Top each with a cherry and serve immediately.

The original recipe makes enough for 8 - I only used one grapefruit (enough for 2) and then followed the recipe for the meringue and made cookies out of the extra.
The recipe called for cherries to top the meringue, but we settled for toasted walnuts as that is all I had on hand.

Sharing on Tasty Tuesday

Thrift Store Shopping - Update

2010-06-14T15:46:00.000-05:00

I haven't written an update on my Thrift Store Shopping Challenge in awhile because, to be honest, it's no longer a challenge. My closet is now full of clothes I love and every item has been purchased second hand. I have gotten more compliments on my clothes - from friends and strangers - since I have started exclusively buying clothes and accessories second hand.

That's not to say it hasn't been a challenge. Up until a month ago it was a challenge I tackled with great enthusiasm.

One weekend in May I went away with some friends and we spent one afternoon at the Outlets - and that is where I was truly put to the test! There were incredible deals, cute clothes and my friends were shopping. It was hard not joining in the fun! They even offered to buy me what I wanted and have me then pay for something non clothing related for them... ha! We women certainly know how to work a system.

But that afternoon I did stay strong and stuck to my commitment to not buy any clothing or accessories from a store - and I am so proud of myself for that! It encouraged my resolve. And what was once a challenge is no longer a challenge. I am now bored of my challenge to only shop second hand stores and yard sales for myself and the boys because I have found it to be both easy and fun - the challenge is gone.

I have started to think of a new challenge for myself and I am leaning towards following in Rebecca's steps and not buy anything for a year or follow the path of the extreme minimalists and only own a small amount of clothes. I am not able to commit to either challenge quite yet as I have already dropped two pant sizes this year and plan to drop one or two more by the end of this year and out of necessity will need to buy more clothes - but I am playing around with both ideas.

In the mean time I am stocking up on cheap accessories as I find them - once I up the challenge I won't be able to indulge in these little fun finds.

Here are a few fun finds of recent:

Tweed purse by Express - $1.75

Brighton Belt - brand new with $45 tag - paid .75 cents

Pretty peach colored earrings - $1

Necklace - $1

Summer Plans

2010-06-11T12:57:00.000-05:00

Summer is my favorite season and I just love living in the south as we get so many hot summer months down here. I thought I would share some of our summer plans and share links of those who have summer plans that have inspired me. We are planning on keeping things low key and simple, and most activities revolve around being at home.

1. Read. Both boys love being read to, listening to audio books or looking at picture books themselves and so we are going to be doing more of that this summer. We are currently working on reading Dr. Doolittle and recently finished reading The Little Prince. It takes us awhile to read through chapter books, but both those books have been a lot of fun to read out loud to the boys. We read a lot of picture books too - Bill Peet and Where's Waldo books being current favorites. I was inspired by Jennifer's plan to spend 2 hours a day 3 days a week reading - how fun!

2. Play at home. At the end of last summer I picked up a small kiddie pool for a ridiculously cheap price (somewhere in the 95% off range) and we have been enjoying the fun it has provided. The boys have been out in it almost daily. I picked up some water guns for them and given them smaller containers to use out there too and I don't think I could pay money for them to have more fun! Emily has a great list of frugal summer fun to do at home, complete with really cute pictures.

3. Head to the beach. We are 3 hours from the ocean which is a reasonable distance for a day trip and the boys are such a fun age for this! We have made it out there 2 or 3 times each summer for the last couple years, so hopefully we'll be able to do a couple trips this summer.

4. Have grown up friends over a bit more often. For dinner or just desserts. And games. Always for games. I would like to spend a bit more time investing in the lives of others and building friendships. And I dearly love the interaction between our friends and our boys.

5. Inspire the imagination. I love toys like this marble run where you can create to your hearts content - legos and building blocks are also favorites here as they all inspire creativity. On top of playing I want to encourage the imagination with experiences and letter writing. We made a recent trip to the Fire station and Judah talks about it all the time and uses facts he learned there in his imaginative play. I love that!

The boys also sit with me and "write" a letter with me once a week - I hope to do this more frequently with them through the summer.

6. Go camping. Our recent planned camping trip got rained out and the boys are as excited as anything to go camping. Depending on Paul's work schedule we may do this a couple times this summer. We recently found all the camping supplies we could imagine needing at a yard sale for an excellent deal and so are all set and ready to go as soon as he gets some time off!

Breads

2010-06-09T21:04:00.000-05:00

I have long aspired to stop buying bread from the grocery store and make all of my own from scratch.

While my sister was staying with us for 6 months she very kindly took on the job of making bread for us and came up with two fabulous recipes that she made many times and since she has left I have made several times. It was during her time here that I stopped buying commercially made bread products - apart from tortillas. I buy a lot of flour tortillas and it suddenly hit me today that I should try making my own, and so I did. WOW! What an incredible difference. Before sharing the recipe and how I served them here are the other two bread recipes I frequently make:

The Ciabatta Bread is so very easy to make and is delicious - most especially with soup!

It literally takes minutes to prepare the dough and then you can let it sit all day or all night and then just pour onto your baking dish. Seriously easy and so good!

The Hamburger Rolls are incredible - I don't think I can go back to store bought rolls, these are so delicious and they really are very simple to make, you just need to account for the rising time and plan accordingly. Esther made them look so fun with different toppings sprinkled on hers, I just used Italian seasoning.

I made them this week and served them toasted with BBQ chicken breasts from Schwan's - their chicken is my new favorite! So tender and yummy.

I used the left over BBQ chicken and mixed in some black beans and added some cheddar cheese and rolled it up in the homemade tortillas - so tasty and simple. Paul requested that it become a regular dinner! What a sweet compliment.

Homemade Flour Tortilla Recipe

4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsps baking powder
2 TBS butter (called for lard, but we don't use it), softened
1.5 cups water

Mix the dry ingredients. Add the butter and mix with your hands - it will be sort of lumpy but not really. I almost panicked as it didn't seem like a proper consistency, but it worked out fine in the end! Add the water and mix (I continued doing so with my hands) until the dough is a smooth and elastic consistency.
Divide the dough into 24 pieces and roll into balls. I patted each ball with flour as I shaped them - it helped make the ball easier to shape and also made rolling it out easier too. This recipe really does make 24 balls, however several times I did combine two balls to make one larger tortilla.
Preheat a large skillet to medium-high heat. I used a tiny bit of butter in the bottom, but I don't think it's required.
Using a floured rolling pin roll out the tortillas - getting them super flat takes a bit of work, as does getting a nice circular shape. Mine were either perfectly thin or perfectly shaped - I didn't nail both in the same tortilla. (And you know what? No one cared!)
Place the rolled dough in skillet until golden and bubbly and then flip - about 30 seconds per side.
Continue rolling and cooking the tortillas as you eat the ones you have prepared.

...while writing this out I had a sudden weird feeling that maybe I have made these in the past, but having searched this blog and my recipe blog I can't find any mention of it. But regardless, this recipe will now become a constant.

Yard Sale Find

2010-06-08T14:33:00.001-05:00

I found this decorative bird cage at a yard sale for $2.50 I thought it was so cute and was inspired to use it to hold some hydrangeas from our garden. Are they not just spectacular in their array of colors? I love the former owners for all the beautiful plants they planted!!

I am toying with the idea of painting it white.

But everyone paints everything white these days, and I'm not so much a fad follower, so I am trying to decide if I'd really love it white or if I am just tempted to do it because that is what everyone else is doing.

Peer pressure.

You never lose it.

I had the arrangement on our back porch and then moved it to the table by our front door - it's such a cheerful arrangement to see when we walk in the front door!

And this frame now has a picture in it - I am just too lazy to take a second picture of it!

The Jumping Thing...

2010-06-06T20:43:00.001-05:00

Kinderkitchen Products for Budding Chefs

2010-06-05T13:31:00.000-05:00

Knowing that a lot of my readers have young children (or grandchildren!) I am so very excited to share these products with you. We really like all of the Kuhn Rikon Kinderkitchen products that we have tried and I think you will too!! These are great kitchen utensils for children to safely use to do real food prep.

I was first introduced to these several weeks ago when a friend sent a couple items to us. I was charmed by their quirkiness and impressed with the quality and set out to learn more about the company.
Kuhn Rikon kindly sent us three additional items and their usefulness and charm has won all our hearts. Even Paul likes the children kitchen tools, which is rare for him to like anything designed for children.

I want to clearly state that these items would not be in our home, let alone featured on my blog, if I didn't think they were an excellent, quality item that offer a useful function.

Both of my boys love helping in the kitchen and Paul and I both strongly encourage them to assist us, using our real kitchen tools.
They also love to pretend cook in their own little kitchen and hate play kid utensils and prefer to use "the real thing." And because they are accustomed to helping us in the kitchen they are well aware of all the kitchen utensils and feel free to help themselves to items from the drawer. I have always struggled with this balance - I don't like my utensils traveling all over the house, some of them are too dangerous to be played with unsupervised, yet I want to encourage imaginative play mixed with reality.

This product has solved that problem - the kitchen items are real tools that can be used to prepare real dishes, but they are also safe for children to play with. They are recommended for ages 4 and up but of the 5 we have only 1 is not appropriate for them to use unsupervised at their ages of 23 months and 3 years.

I don't have a picture of each Kinderkitchen product that we own so I have included an Amazon link so you can see the item. While Amazon is fairly competitive on their prices I would encourage you to shop around for the best price if you want to purchase these for your family.

Crocodile Jaws - These are sturdy tongs and while the intended use is to transfer items from a serving dish to ones plate my boys prefer to use it to transfer food from their plate to their mouth. I need to buy a second one of these as it's one of the most popular item! This is well made, appealing to kids and easy to use

Mouse Measuring Cups - These are just darling and I love having them on display. They are also now my favorite measuring cups for dry stuff.
I didn't find them very easy for the boys to use with wet ingredients in them, but it was just fine with dry ingredients. I also love that each size is a different color as it makes it easier for Judah to grab the correct scoop.

Duck Snippers - This is the only tool we don't leave in the boys play kitchen for them to play with at will. They aren't sharp scissors but they have the ability to cut things that I may not want cut. The beak of the duck is a sheath for the scissors.

Cockatiel Whisk - The Cockatiel whisk is cute, but to me it is just a whisk. I neither love it nor hate it. It hangs in their Pottery Barn kitchen and I like the look of it hanging there but if I had to pick my least favorite item this would be it.

Dog Knife - The dog knife is every ones favorite. If you only pick one item to buy, this is it! This is a child safe knife, in a super fun design. The ears of the dog serve as a guard to keep your fingers from slipping down the knife. Both boys can use this safely without supervision - with no risk of them cutting themselves and yet fully able to cut softer items, such as the strawberries as pictured above. Judah sat and cut .5 lb of strawberries for me the other day - it was truly a huge help!

If you're looking for cooking utensils for your children or a cool birthday or Christmas gift for someone elses child I would highly recommend these products!!

Green Smoothie for Veggie Hater

2010-06-04T07:49:00.000-05:00

Meet Adam.

A vegetable hater.

We made him a green smoothie yesterday and, in his words;

"I don't love it. But I don't hate it either. I would drink this if someone made it for me again."

That, dear readers, is a huge mark of success.

We used our new favorite special ingredient for his smoothie - Schwan's Golden Fruit Blend. This fruit blend is incredibly delicious. It includes pineapple, mango, peaches and strawberries. It is our favorite frozen fruit blend that we have ever used. It is too expensive for us to use with great frequency (given that we are drinking 3 a day we do try to use ingredients we find on sale) but we have both agreed that we enjoy this blend so much it will become a staple in our freezer for extra special green smoothies.

Here is the recipe we made Adam

8oz Kale

1 carrot

4 Tablespoons coconut oil

1.5 cups Golden Fruit Blend

about 1 cup water

about 2 frozen bananas

about 1 cup of ice

Defining Priorities

2010-06-02T09:06:00.001-05:00

For everything there is a season...

Sometimes simply enjoying my current season of life is hard.

As a single person I wanted to get married.

As a new bride I wanted babies.

With new babies I wanted talking, interacting toddlers.

It's not that I didn't enjoy or appreciate each new season, because I did.

But I have always looked forward to the next season.

I struggle with balance, priorities and simply being present in the here and now.

I struggle when I compare myself to other moms who are leading entirely different lives.

Not better lives. Not worse lives. Just different - and I start to wonder if my life shouldn't be different like theirs too.

It's at times that I struggle that I am most grateful for a defined list of priorities for myself, my children and our family. Because then even if I feel like doing something that will completely redirect us, I don't. Because it's not part of the plan.

A plan that we have prayed about, sought guidance for and matches up with our family motto.

It's not that having a list of priorities makes the challenges any less of a challenge, but it reminds me of why I am doing what I'm doing. It reminds me of what the (hopeful!) end goal is. And it reminds me that there have been hours of prayer put into the defined priority list - and it makes deciding what I should actually do easier.

And maybe this makes no sense to anyone else.

But I needed to remind myself.

Sharing on Chatting at the Sky

Green Smoothies - the Liquids

2010-05-30T18:50:00.000-05:00

THE LIQUIDS

We broke down the content of our smoothie into 4 basic groups so that we could easily build a healthy smoothie each time based off the basic groups. We always make sure to add items from each group to ensure a nutritious and delicious smoothie.

As mentioned before, these are our 4 groups:

Greens

Liquid

Fats

Special

I am going to do a separate post about each category to keep it simpler and more organized.

All posts should be up by the end of the weekend!

I have tried my best to answer questions as they have come up, if I missed your question or you have another one feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer.

LIQUID- There isn't a whole lot to say on this addition. Liquid is essential to help blend and thin out the smoothie. You can play with the amount of liquid you add to change the thickness of your smoothie and also the consistency of your smoothie. We mainly use water and if we use something other than water we do consider it as part of the 'special' group, but for the sake of organization I will list all of the liquids we have used here.

- Water

-Grapefruit juice

-Coconut milk

-Milk*

-Apple Juice

-Almond milk

*we are slowly weeding milk out of our diet. We haven't used it in a long time, but we use to.

We also consider ice as part of our liquid, and as mentioned before sometimes use frozen cucumbers or frozen bananas in place of ice.

The liquid should be added first to your blender as it helps create a vortex of sorts and blends up the greens more thoroughly. And as several people commented earlier, it helps prolong the life of the motor.

Since this section is rather short I'll add a fun tip we discovered a couple weeks ago: if you have extra smoothie pour it into a Popsicle mold and put it in the freezer - easy, cheap and tasty Popsicle treats that are good for the kids!

I had hoped to get the whole series complete this weekend, but I was in Atlanta all day Friday for a Photoshop seminar, spent yesterday pulling staples and cleaning glue off the hardwood floors we discovered upstairs under the carpet, tomorrow we are spending all day with various friends and Tuesday we are going away for our first camping trip with the boys. I committed to more than I can complete this weekend, so the 'fats; and 'special' will be addressed later.

Happy Memorial Day!

Green Smoothies - the Leafy Greens

2010-05-27T10:22:00.000-05:00

As mentioned before, these are our 4 groups:

Greens

Liquid

Fats

Special

I am going to do a separate post about each category to keep it simpler and more organized.

All posts should be up by the end of the weekend!

I have tried my best to answer questions as they have come up, if I missed your question or you have another one feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer.

GREENS - The foundation of every green smoothie is of course the green, leafy vegetables.

Leafy greens have more nutrition per calorie than any other food. They are a significant source of vitamins A, C, E and K and several B vitamins.

Greens are a rich source of calcium, magnesium, iron and potassium. In fact we use greens as our number one source of calcium for the boys.

They are rich in fiber, extremely low in fat and carbohydrates and provide an excellent source of protein.

For our smoothies I use:

-Kale

-Spinach

-Turnip Greens

I have used Mustard Greens and do not recommend them. Perhaps one day I'll find a good mix for them, but they are somewhat spicy and not at all enjoyable to us.

I have heard that you need to mix up the greens you are eating, but I was unsure why so sent an e-mail to my MIL asking her. Here's what she said:

"Because of a substance called oxalic acid in some greens like spinach and parsley, it is good to alternate your greens. Oxalic acid is a mineral inhibitor (it blocks the absorption of minerals in the body) that is deactivated with cooking so using these kinds of raw greens in large quantities can be a problem. Swiss Chard and romaine lettuce are free of oxalic acid. Kale is low in oxalic acid and should not be an issue."

I alternate based on what is on sale or what I can find in stock, but we primarily use kale because it is the cheapest and we drink so many. Spinach has the least texture and taste to it so if you are starting out I would recommend starting with that.

Other options we haven't yet tried include Swiss Chard, Collard Greens, Parsley, Dandelion Greens and Beet Greens. Lettuce can be used too but it is not as nutritionally dense as the other greens.

In addition to the actual leafy greens we also include other vegetables in this category. They never take the place of the leafy greens, but they can be added in addition to.

Other vegetables we add include;

-Carrots - these add a great flavor and texture to smoothies

-Cucumber - not sure that they are worthwhile nutritionally wise, but they are used to balance out the 'liquid' category sometimes. I have also frozen them and used them in place of ice.

A friend of mine uses beets in hers, but we haven't tried that yet.

Tips on Buying & Storing Greens:
- Purchase the bundles of greens instead of prepackaged. Yes, you'll have to wash them yourself, but you will save a lot of money!

- Buy 3-4 days worth of greens at a time, any more than that and we have found they start to wilt.

- Ask the grocer how long the greens have been sitting out for and/or if they have any fresher greens in the back they could bring out for you. They have always been so kind and helpful in bringing me the freshest greens. And this is just a me thing - but if they come from the back that means the general public hasn't had a chance to touch or sneeze on them yet. So much less gross to get them straight from the back!

- Buy the biggest bundle. Our greens are pre-bundled and sold by the bundle, not by weight. I have found bundles that are twice the size of the other bunches, and for the same price I snatch those up!

- Wash your greens on an as needed basis. I just use water to thoroughly clean them.

It is Coming!

2010-05-25T08:28:00.000-05:00

I am working on the next in the series on Green Smoothies - thanks for being so patient!

We have been busy cleaning house - yesterday we tore up all the carpeting in Paul's office. We discovered that our entire upper level has dreamy wood floors and we can't wait to get rid of all the carpeting! His office is the first room we have cleared of carpet and I am already exhausted!

Judah has developed a passion for games and on Sunday we played no less than 10 games. ~~Exhausting~~.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to those that have voted for my photograph! It means a lot to me that so many of you would take the time to vote. The photography festival isn't until the beginning of June and I believe the voting is open until then. I will keep you posted if I place!

And finally, I have posted a few new posts on my BOY TERRAIN blog, the most recent being about their felt swords.

Help me win $200!!

2010-05-23T12:44:00.004-05:00

I am a finalist for a photography contest in our city and if you would CLICK HERE to vote for me I would SO appreciate it!! You do need to log in to vote but it is a quick process.

There is a cash prize of $200 to the person who gets the most votes and so if you would ask your friends to vote too it would mean a lot to me!!

(And for those of you following the $20 bill challenge I took a huge gamble and used some of my money towards entering photos in this contest so this would go a LONG way to help me out!!)

NOTE: If clicking the link doesn't take you right to my image (which is the one above) then when you are on the gallery page select "Gallery - Finalist & People's Choice Voting" option from Main Menu on the left.

Then click "PEOPLE" and my picture is the last one on the second page. You need to click on the picture and then click "vote now."

Reflections - Morning Devotions

2010-05-22T07:28:00.001-05:00

I am not a morning person. I never have been and always thought I never would be.

That is, up until three weeks ago.

I hadn't been truly enjoying my hurried Bible devotions with little boys chasing each other and making war cries around me during my "quiet time." If I sent them outside to play during my planned devotion time they always found a (generally legitimate) reason to come ask me something or get my help.

When I tried reading in the evening after they were in bed I was too tired to put much effort into reading and praying and would usually drift off. I was certain if I got up early I would be as exhausted as I was in the evenings and so I lived quieting this need inside me to be spending more time in God's word, telling myself it would happen one day.

Then about 3 weeks ago I decided I needed to change something about the way I was reading His word. Stuffing a quick reading into a distracting 5-10 minutes wasn't satisfying. And I wanted more.

So I set my alarm for 6:30, and apart from the the two mornings I was away last weekend, have managed to get up fairly soon after that. This morning I was excited when my body woke up minutes before the alarm went off - I am slowly adjusting my sleeping habits and will set the alarm for even earlier.

And yes, I fully realize many of you might be laughing at my 6:30 wake up being early for me. But I am a work in progress!

My boys usually wake up around 8:30 so this gives me about 2 hours of quiet time to myself to read, pray, think, write and then get a head start on my to-do list.

The time in the morning alone with the Lord has been wonderful. I start a load of laundry while brewing a cup of coffee or tea and then move to the back porch where I have created a little spot that is my area for the early morning.

Last weekend at the conference one of the speakers, Becky Tirabassi, shared a One-year Bible and journal she had created. I have used them both this past week and enjoy them immensely. I want to wait until I have used them a bit longer before truly singing their praises, but so far they have been excellent tools.

"This is the day the Lord has made,

Let us rejoice and be glad in it."

-Psalm 118:24

Would you take a moment to help me win $200?!?!

Sharing on Chatting at the Sky

Curried Black Beans over Couscous

2010-05-20T11:48:00.002-05:00

Curried Black Beans over Couscous

Our favorite dish this week has been curried black beans served over couscous - Paul enjoyed it so much he asked me to repeat the dish regularly! Thankfully I wrote down everything as I made it so it'll be easy to replicate.

Ingredients:

1 bag of couscous (I buy mine at Big Lots, but it should be in the international food section)
1 bag of black beans
1/3 onion
2 garlic cloves
salt
pepper
curry powder

Soak and cook black beans according to package. Note: this will take about 8 hours total. If you have never soaked your own beans I highly encourage it. They're healthier and cheaper and it's actually very easy.
Once the black beans are done, rinse them and place in a large bowl. Cook the couscous according to package directions.
Chop the onion and garlic into small pieces. Add to black beans. Add salt, pepper and curry seasoning to taste. I didn't write down how much I added, but I kept tasting the beans until I liked the flavor.

Serve couscous on each plate and load curried beans on top.
Have special toppings in individual bowls for people to add their favorites.
The toppings we had on hand and used were:
- coconut
- raw peanuts
- raisins
- yogurt
This was a huge hit with all 4 of us. But be warned - couscous is MESSY!! I learned my lesson long ago and made this dinner into a fun picnic so we could eat it outside.

USING THE LEFTOVERS

The next day I had a lot of the curried bean mixture left over. I put it in our blender with a bit of coconut oil and blended it all up. I then spooned it into flour tortillas, added some home made hummus and cheese and wrapped the tortilla up tight. I put it under the broiler for a few minutes and we had an easy and delicious lunch with the left overs.
Judah didn't care for it, but Paul, Wesley and myself really enjoyed it.

Would you take a moment to help me win $200?!?!

Sharing on Tasty Tuesday

The Perfect Cup of Coffee

2010-05-20T07:56:00.004-05:00

Would you take a moment to help me win $200?!?!

Sharing on Tasty Tuesday

Why We Drink Green Smoothies 3 Times a Day Part 3

2010-05-18T20:03:00.000-05:00

In part 1 of my explanation as to why we drink 3 Green Smoothies a Day I told you about my struggle with weight and my time using Mannatech. Part 2 explained my phase with the Warrior Diet, which while successful left me craving more vegetables than I could chew! So then we started...

Blending Our Greens

Somewhere in the midst of all this Paul asked me what I thought of getting a Blendtec Blender so we could do Green Smoothies 3 times a day. We had been looking at the Blendtec on and off for the past year but it had always seemed like an unnecessary luxury.

We have been making green smoothies for several years but we have also burned through 4 blenders in our 5 year marriage. We knew we needed a quality blender in order to keep up with our usage and with where we were both at fitness wise we knew we needed to shake things up a bit.

Luxury or not it suddenly seemed like a necessary item and since we had the cash to purchase it we went ahead and bought the Blendtec. (side note: you do not need a fancy blender to make the green smoothies! I personally think the Blendtec does a better job blending than our previous blenders, but apart from killing the motors on the other 4 blenders they did a good job blending the greens up.)

Using the Blendtec three times a day has made all the difference in our lives as far as getting nutrient rich vegetables in our bodies and our boys bodies. Each smoothie is loaded with vegetables, healthy fats and some fruit - nutrients we would otherwise not be getting.

Since starting the smoothies 3 times a day my skin has become the nicest it has ever been - in fact I have entirely stopped wearing cover up or foundation because I actually really like my skin!

I imagine one of the top questions in your mind is "If you are eating 3 green smoothies a day, what else are you eating?" Well, I am glad you asked!
Here is how our eating schedule typically goes:

Breakfast: Green smoothie for everyone. Boys eat additional breakfast of fruit, eggs, waffles, etc.

Lunch: Green smoothie for everyone. Boys eat additional lunch

Pre-dinner: Green smoothie for everyone

Supper: Raw and cooked vegetables, protein, fats and carbs (pretty much still copying the Warrior Diet)

Snacks: Honest, our snacking has almost been eliminated. If we do snack it is on more fruits or veggies, raw nuts, popcorn or crackers.

Drinks: mainly water (I aim for 100+ oz a day), tea, coffee
We are fairly simple.

Once a week we set a day aside to eat all day long and whatever we'd like - this is to give us a "cheat" day so we don't feel the need to actually cheat and it also shakes up the metabolism. While we still maintain our 3 green smoothies we are free to eat anything else that appeals to us on that day without concern. That being said; the longer we've been eating this way the less we want to eat junk food.

Back to the smoothies... in order to make them a balanced part of our diet we came up with what we call

"The 4 Smoothie Groups"

The groups being:

Greens
Liquid
Fats
Special

The Greens and the Fats being essential to a healthy, nutrient rich smoothie, the Liquid being needed to make it a smoothie and the Special making it palatable.

While it is in no way an exhaustive list the next part in this series will jump into the 4 Smoothie Groups we have made up and explain the health benefits of the items we chose to put in our smoothies...

Faces &Flowers

2010-05-17T06:31:00.000-05:00

A Weekend of Joy

2010-05-16T16:48:00.000-05:00

I spent the weekend at the Women of Joy conference in Charleston, S.C. - what an incredible weekend!

4 women from church were there with me and we had a great time together - laughing, learning and being challenged. I cannot say enough good things about this conference - it was so much better than I had expected. In fact we loved it so much the 5 of us preregistered for next years conference being held in Myrtle Beach. If you ever have the opportunity to go to one I would highly encourage you to do so!

There is nothing quite like sitting in a room of 3,500 women singing praise songs together, laughing together and wiping away tears together. It was precious.

At lunch time on Saturday we were sitting at our table and we realized that Steven Curtis Chapman, two of his sons and the other band members were eating RIGHT behind us! (They were in town for concert that evening.) We were a bit more than thrilled and spent a good deal of time trying to figure out how to talk to them without interrupting their meal or drawing lots of attention to them. We finally got them right as they were leaving and 4 of us got a picture with him.

I spent endless amounts of hours listening to him as a teenager - it was really neat to meet him in person.

I am so thankful that Paul was so gracious to rearrange his entire schedule so that he could stay home with our boys - he put in a lot more hours at work just so I could get away and I really appreciate his sacrifice!

The Warrior Diet

2010-05-12T21:18:00.001-05:00

I decided to refocus a bit - while this originally started out as an explanation as to why we drink 3 green smoothies a day it is ultimately my journey of losing the weight I gained with two nearly back to back pregnancies. My diet has played the largest part in losing weight, but working out has also played a significant role. I am going to continue the course I started, which was explaining how we got to where we are today with our diet, but I plan on making this a larger series and expanding it to fitness for moms. Or fitness for anyone. You don't need to be a mom, but it will take having little ones underfoot into account.

Note: I did utilize the use of a gym with a nursery but I am currently doing my fitness regime at home so the series will cover workouts for both home and gym.

And also note: I am in no way an expert in physical fitness. But my husband is so it will be pretty good information!

Without further ado..

The Start of the Warrior Diet

With 30 inches of fat off my body I felt incredibly energized but also increasingly aware of the heaviness of my body. 172lbs on my frame is a lot and I was feeling it.
In February I started following an eating plan that Paul has used off an on throughout our married life which is called The Warrior Diet. The Warrior Diet is a book written by Ori Hofmekler and the premise of it is the eating habits of warriors of old.

Ori Hofmekler was formerly in the special forces and developed the concept for his book through his special forces training.

The basic idea of the Warrior Diet goes against all of the commonly accepted diet advice.
It is, simply put, that you overeat once a day in the evening.
Of course it breaks down into something a bit more complex than that and I will share a bit more into the concept below. However if you intend to adopt this diet into your own lifestyle I would encourage you to read the book for yourself. It is a bit wordy (ok, a lot wordy!!) but there is a lot of important information in there on how to do this right and how to wean yourself on to this diet.

When I started this plan I jumped right in and did the entire plan from the very beginning, but that isn't necessarily the best way to do it and you want to make sure to not overwhelm yourself by going full force and causing yourself to get discouraged and quit.

The Warrior Diet encourages overeating at night and under eating during the day.
The under eating stage, which is done throughout the day and should be combined with exercise, triggers what the author refers to as "a primal survival mechanism." This in turn helps "the body cope with stress, burn stored fat as fuel for increased energy demand and improve endurance to better survive."

In other words; you are burning stored fat and creating more energy.

During the under eating stage there are limited foods you are able to eat including raw vegetables, fruit and light proteins.

The overeating stage is the fun part - you can literally eat whatever you want, you just have to follow the order.
The order being salad, cooked vegetables, protein, fat and then carbs.
In the beginning I was able to fit in a lot of carbs and then a bowl of ice cream at the end of the evening, but my body naturally regulated itself and would crave the healthy nutrients and I began eating the junk foods less and less.
I had never been more in tune with my body and it's hunger, full and thirst cues.

I found it relatively easy to follow the under eating and overeating pattern. I consumed a great amount of raw vegetables throughout the day and within the first 8 weeks lost 12 lbs. I was still working out but due to a several cases of colds and the flu I wasn't at the gym as frequently as I could have been.

By the beginning of April I was at the most fit stage of my life (note: I didn't say thinnest!) - I was under eating throughout the day and, following the recommended order of eating, would over eat in the evening. I felt fit and had a lot of energy - but I couldn't keep up with eating all the raw vegetables my body was demanding throughout the day. The day I ate through 16 ounces of carrots, 2 cucumbers and numerous amounts of fruit by mid afternoon I knew I had to change something. Eating all those vegetables was getting tedious!

And that is when we got serious about buying a $400 Blender.

To be continued...

Exhaustingly Endless Mommy Day

2010-05-11T18:50:00.000-05:00

I like to take pictures of them that make me laugh so that on days when the "mooooooommmmmmy"-ing seems exhaustingly endless I can look at them and smile and remember to cherish the moment.

It really works.

I know. Because today was one of those exhaustingly endless mommy-ing days.

Sharing at Chatting at the Sky

Lychee Fruit & Green Smoothies - 5 recipes

2010-05-11T07:40:00.001-05:00

A lychee fruit on top of a smoothie

Lychee fruit has become a favorite special treat to add to our Green Smoothies.

I probably shouldn't even admit it since we buy it canned as they aren't in season yet and the canned fruit probably has none of the nutrients that Lychee fruit is known for, but Lychee fruit is SO yummy!

Lychee fruit has a bit of an odd texture when eating it whole but blended up in a smoothie you would never know. It has a light, sweet taste to it and all four of us really enjoy it. I pick up a can every time I am at the Asian grocery store, and they have told me that they should be getting fresh Lychee fruit in sometime in June.

I have 5 recipes below that we made up using the Lychee fruit.

We have also introduced coconut oil and cod liver oil to our smoothies for the added health benefit they each offer - I'll get more into the details later - but you will find one or both of those ingredients in all our smoothies from now on. They can easily be left out.

We freeze our bananas, peeled, in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Once they are frozen we transfer them over to a ziplock bag.

I think that is all I wanted to mention about the ingredients... let me know if there's questions!

Here are our 5 Lychee fruit green smoothie recipes:

2 frozen bananas
3 lychee fruit and 1 tsp syrup from can
1 TBSP coconut oil
8 oz kale
1 cucumber
1 cup water
1 mango

8 oz Kale
2 celery
1 avocado
1 cup water
1 TBSP coconut oil
1/3 pineapple
4 lychee
1+ cup of ice

8 oz Kale
2 bananas
1 grapefruit, juiced
1 mango
3 lychee fruit
1 TBSP coconut oil
1 tsp cod liver oil
1/2 cup water
1+ cup ice

8 oz Kale
3 lychee and 1 tsp syrup from can
2 celery stalks
10 oz frozen blueberries
1 TBSP coconut oil
1 tsp cod liver oil
1 banana
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup almond milk
1+ cup ice

10 oz mixed greens
1/2 can coconut milk
1/3 pineapple
1 mango
2 frozen bananas
10 oz frozen strawberries
5 lychee fruit
1 cucumber
3 TBSP coconut oil
1 cup water
1+ cup ice

Sharing on Tasty Tuesday and Tempt my Tummy

Why We Drink Green Smoothies 3 Times a Day

2010-05-10T07:56:00.000-05:00

Why We Drink Green Smoothies 3 Times a Day

I have been trying for a week now to figure out the best way to explain why we drink 3 green smoothies a day and how we chose what goes in them and I feel a bit at a loss as to where to begin. Green smoothies have been a part of our lives for several years but have only recently been given such a prominent place in our diet. Our journey to Green Smoothies Overload has been a developing one and there are key places in our life where this story could start. I have chosen to start this story when...

Paul Told Me That I Was Gaining Weight.

It started back in the fall when Paul made a simple comment about how it looked like I was gaining weight.
A loving, concerned comment that I graciously received and appreciated. It sparked a resolve to lose the weight that I had never lost from my pregnancy with Wesley, where I tipped out at 195lbs and over 15 months after his birth hadn't dropped beneath 176lbs.

Paul and I discussed numerous options on top of healthy eating and regular exercise and we decided on Osolean powder, a Whey Protein Supplement created by Mannatech. The product, which follows the Osolean plan also created by Mannatech, is designed to aid in fat reduction.
It is a powder that is easily mixed in with food or drinks and you consume it twice daily. The powder itself took me awhile to get use to and I found it easiest to consume mixed in with Orange Juice with high pulp.
I started the Osolean powder in October '09, combining it with regular exercise and eating healthy and I officially ended my time with it almost 4 months later in February.

I started at a weight of 176lbs and ended at a weight of 172lbs. That number would have been extremely discouraging except for one thing - I measured my body in 23 different places every few weeks throughout the time period and that was the true measure of results. In the 4 months of using Osolean I lost 30 inches of fat from my body! My body strength and energy increased and I felt so good!

I stopped using Osolean for a few reasons - mainly it is because I had only ever intended for it to be a tool to help me get rolling on my weight loss goals. Secondly I stopped using it because it is expensive. And thirdly I stopped using it because I wanted to start losing pounds.

That brought me to the Warrior Diet stage, which is to be continued...

Boycotting Clothes

2010-05-07T12:55:00.001-05:00

Rebecca is a few years older than me and growing up my sister and I were always the beneficiaries of Rebecca and her sisters hand me downs. It was one of the highlights of my teen years getting clothes from her. ~~Guess that tells you how exciting my teens years were, huh?~~

When Rebecca heard about my challenge to only shop at second hand stores she told me she was on a challenge to not buy any clothes for an entire year I was intrigued.

And then forgot about it.

But I remembered again and had the brilliant idea of asking her to write about it and I am so glad I did because I just love her story and think you will too!

Rebecca has graciously written a guest post on her boycotting of clothes - I do so love it worded like that!

Rebecca's Story:

My name is Rebecca and I'm boycotting clothes... not the wearing of, but instead, the purchasing of... for an entire year.

In a quest to find out where my money is ACTUALLY going, in July of 2009 I decided to cut out a few things from my lifestyle: clothes, shoes, and accessories were first to go. Why? I was inspired. How? Partially because I never want to fall into debt, partially because I love daring myself to do dumb things, and partially because of Danny Wallace's book, "Yes Man." Now, if you've read this book you're probably thinking, "you dummy, aren't you supposed to be saying 'yes' to things? You're a 'No Woman'!" Admittedly, I guess I am. Kind of. Actually, now that I think about it, I'm not really a 'No Woman' at all.

While saying no to clothes, I am actually saying yes to do more with my money than just wear it. I'm saying yes to experiences as well as saving and investing my money. I'm saying yes as in "yes, it is possible to not NEED to buy an abundance of clothes." I'm also saying, yes, YOU can do it, too. Try it. Some people will be skeptical, and others will be encouraging. I have a number of shopaholic friends who regularly empty their closets and donate clothes to me that they aren't wearing anymore. Clothing swaps are the main reason why this challenge has been relatively easy. If you're going to take up this challenge, I strongly encourage assessing your friendships and becoming closer to those that are the same size as you. I should probably take this opportunity to apologize to my short and tiny friends, if I've been avoiding you, your value obviously plummeted when you couldn't be of help to my clothing needs. All joking aside, one of my friends actually bet me that I wouldn't be able to last the full year and she's going to be owing me quite a chunk of change come August 1st! My own sister told me she would sneak me new clothes if I paid her to! I haven't, and I won't... plus that would just botch this entire thing.

I'm not saying this has been ridiculously easy at all. Originally, I just stayed out of malls. Out of sight, out of mind. Right? Then came time for Christmas shopping. I wouldn't even say I have the SLIGHTEST shopping addiction, but the second I stepped foot in that mall I wanted one of EVERYTHING. I may have partially blacked out and envisioned how glorious it would be to be jumping off my roof top into a mound of new clothes while even newer clothes rained down upon me... Surprisingly, I made it out of the mall with not a thing for myself! From then on it's been smooth sailing.

There was one catch when I made this plan, the idea was that I couldn't spend any of MY own money on clothing for myself. So, for Christmas, I got a little sneaky and asked for gift cards. I've been so cautious with spending them because it's an extremely limited fund to last me until August 1st; I still have $42 left and am weary about spending it. What if I simultaneously get holes in ALL my socks and need new ones? I'm not even kidding, I've thought about this and if I had no money left on my gift cards, it would be tragic... my toes are the ugliest. Odds are $42 will be sitting on that gift card inside my wallet until the end of July.

Ridiculously unnecessary long story cut short (and at the risk of sounding like the motivational speaker that I'm not): Challenge yourself. If not to this, to something else. You'd be surprised at your will power (and savings in some instances).

I have no idea what's up next for me, but I'm always up to some kind of shenanigan, odds are this is just the beginning.

$500 Video

2010-05-06T10:13:00.001-05:00

It's probably safe to say that Get Rich Slowly is my favorite finance blog. The author, J.D. Roth, is intelligent, vulnerable and experienced - three things I appreciate about his writing. J.D. encourages a community on his blog, featuring many guest bloggers and a host of staff writers so the wisdom and experiences shared are well rounded. If you haven't read his blog I encourage you to check it out.

Weeks ago J.D. announced a contest he was hosting - a video contest where people could submit a video giving a financial tip or a financial success story. You were allowed to enter one video per category.
At first it was an intimidating thought, but then I decided to go for it - what did I have to loose?!
I realized if Paul entered too our odds of winning would be even higher, so I encouraged him to submit two videos as well, which he did.

There were a lot of great submissions in both categories, though most people entered the "Tip" category and not the "Success Story" category. J.D. announced the winners last week and I was ~~thrilled~~ ~~tickled pink~~ ~~overjoyed~~ speechless that I won the $500 prize for Success Stories!

Here is my video submission:

*I intentionally went for odd pictures of us for the slide show and now it's a tad bit embarrassing that thousands of people have seen them!

I debated putting the money in the $20 Bill Challenge but don't think I will. I am suddenly overwhelmed with what to do with an extra $500 and will probably sit on it for a few months before spending it. Some ideas running through my head are a weekend vacation for the four of us or put it towards a new lens for my camera (Yes, I am looking to buy a lens that costs more than $500... but only when I have all the cash to pay for it!)

How would you spend $500 if it happened to fall in your lap?
I find it so much easier to dream about it when it's not a reality!

Creating a Family Motto

2010-05-04T21:20:00.000-05:00

In the last few years Paul and I have had an increasing desire to create a family motto - a catch phrase that sums up our vision and desires.

It took us three years to find something we liked and that we thought matched our goals.

While a guest speaker at church was covering the Sunday School lesson he pointed out this quote by Anthony Norris Groves;

"Labor hard

Consume little

Give much.

And all to the Lord."

What a challenge!

While most may not know of Anthony Norris Groves he was the brother in law to George Muller, whom I am sure more are familiar with.

A. N. Groves launched the first Protestant mission to Arabic-speaking Muslims, and settled in Baghdad and eventually continued his mission work in India. A. N. Groves has been referred to as 'The Father of Faith Missions.'

Prior to his overseas mission work he worked as a dentist and him and his wife committed to giving a tenth of their income to the Lord. Over the course of time they committed to giving more and more of their money away and the Lord blessed his work.

The significance of A. N. Groves lies in his desire to simplify the task of churches and missions by returning to the methods of Christ and his apostles described in the New Testament. As a missionary, his goal was to help indigenous converts form their own churches without dependence on foreign training, authorisation or finance.

I shared the quote with Paul that Sunday evening (he works most Sundays) and he agreed that it really did sum up our hearts desire and so we decided to adopt it for ourselves.

When I won a contest hosted by Cute As a Fox for a printed tile I only had to think for a moment before deciding on having the quote printed on it. She did a terrific job and takes custom orders if anyone is interested in getting their own tile for their home. (Mine is in the above picture!)

So what about you - do you have a Family Motto? Did it take 3 years to come up with it?! Curious minds want to know!

*information on A. N. Groves was mostly taken from Wikipedia

Video Green Smoothie - Recipe #3

2010-05-03T21:27:00.002-05:00

I got the boys to help me make a Green Smoothie to show you how easy and fun it can be for kids to do!
We added Teddy Grahams and a lot of milk to the smoothie which we have never done before but I wanted to demonstrate how you can use fun, recognizable items that the kids already love and blend them up along side foods such as nutrient rich Kale and Avocado.

If you do try introducing Green Smoothies to your children by using cookies or other treats in the drink you can easily cut back the amount of sugary treat you put in the smoothie each time until you have weaned them off the treats and entirely onto the Green Smoothie.

The drink we made in this movie was not very sweet and you couldn't taste the Teddy Grahams so you might want to adjust for tolerance levels - maybe add some honey and less Kale. Or start with spinach instead of Kale. You want your kids to love Green Smoothies, not cringe at the thought of them.

Our Kid Friendly Green Smoothie in the video used:

A firetruck (just kidding!)
A few handfuls of Kale
1 avocado
1 banana
2 cups of milk
5 oz frozen strawberries
small bowl of Teddy Grahams - .5 cup maybe?!
1+ cup of ice
2 cups of milk
1 cup of water

Check out more recipes at Tasty Tuesday

Where Danger Lurks...

2010-05-02T20:49:00.001-05:00

Before boys I didn't realize how many dragons and bad guys lived in ones house.

"Mommy, we will save you from the bad guys! Wezzy - shoot that dragon over there!"

*dramatic shooting sounds ensue*

Wesley: "OH NO."

Judah: "Wezzy - throw the BALL at him. THROW THE BALL AT THE DRAGON WEZZY."

*Wesley puts his entire body into a pretend hard throw with a pretend ball at a pretend dragon, causing himself to fall over on the ground.*

Judah: "Wezzy I WILL SAVE YOU. Hold on - I WILL SAVE YOU!"

*More dramatic shooting sounds, a bit of wrestling with a pretend dragon, some huffing and puffing*

Judah: "Mommy - we did it! We killed the dragon and bad guys."

Wesley: "YAY!!"

And then I kissed my heroes and thanked them for their brave service and for taking care of our home.

And when they wandered off in search of their next adventure I laughed a bit.

But only when they were out of hearing distance.

They take their job quite seriously.

And just because he's cute in the tub too:

Sharing on Chatting at the Sky and Life With My 3 Boybarians

Green Smoothie - Recipe #2

2010-05-01T18:40:00.002-05:00

This Green Smoothie is much more the style of what we consume three times daily. We have made a basic list, which I will expound on later, of the 4 'groups' we include in each smoothie - the groups being the base, liquid, fat and special (which is something sweet, generally fruit).

This smoothie includes items from all four groups.

I used:

about 10 ounces of mixed greens, Kale and Turnip greens

2 carrots

1/2 pear (leftover from snack time)

1 ripe avocado

1 bag of frozen strawberries

2 cups of water

about 1 cup of ice

We've been using more and more greens lately and a trick I have picked up is to blend them with water first to make room in the blender for everything else.

It blends right up and makes room for the fruit and ice.

I wanted to try a banana free green smoothie recipe since most of ours use bananas and Stacy mentioned that she didn't like them - you may not like avocados either if it's a texture thing but you inspired this one Stacy and we like it!

Check out this video on Green Smoothies for kids or newbies

Green Smoothie - Recipe #1

2010-04-30T14:42:00.000-05:00

Green Smoothies turned Purple.

This is a great Green Smoothie recipe to start with as the blueberries color it a pretty purple color, which is a bit more normal of a color for a smoothie, and the taste is rather sweet given the yogurt, blueberries and banana. This is what we call a Dessert Green Smoothie and we don't typically eat this, but I thought it would be a good one to start with!

What you need:

about 8oz of fresh spinach

1 6oz cup blueberry yogurt

1 10oz bag frozen blueberries

1 banana

1 cup of water

1/2 cup milk

1+ cup of ice

Fill the blender with greens first - we always have just to make sure we fit them all in, but several of you commented or emailed me to let me know that it's best to put the frozen stuff in last for the sake of the motor, so we'll be more intentional about that from now on! Thanks for that tip.

Add all other ingredients and blend until everything is a smooth liquid.

We taste test as we blend - if it is too thick, add more liquid. If it's too watery or not sweet enough add a banana. You could also add a bit of honey if it's not sweet enough for your tastes.

More Green Smoothie recipes coming soon!

Green Smoothies - Fast Food for on the Road

2010-04-29T13:23:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago we purchased a Blendtec Blender - it was a hefty investment but Green Smoothies are such a huge part of our life and we have been through 4 blenders in the past 5 years. None of them have stood up to our daily use and when we decided to make Green Smoothies three times a day we knew we would have to purchase a blender that could keep up. After much research we chose the Blendtec and have thus far been thrilled with its performance.

We have used this blender at least 3 times a day for the past 2 weeks and it has surpassed our expectations.

It efficiently blends everything to a drinkable consistency - full length carrots, kale, whole apples, flax seeds - we've tried many other various fruits, vegetables and seeds too and they have all been blended into a smooth, drinkable consistency.

It is so simple to clean - the Blendtec has a wide base making it a breeze to clean, unlike traditionally shaped blenders where things get caught in the narrow base. We rinse under hot water and then put a bit of water in it and pulse and it's clean - this was especially helpful over the past weekend when we took our blender with us on our trip.

Paul blending at our campsite on Grand Isle

Paul told me he'd like to bring the blender along with us on our anniversary trip and while I initially thought it a bit weird I am so glad we had it - it helped us maintain a healthy, regular diet which made the trip so much more enjoyable!

We kept a cooler full of greens, carrots, fruit, eggs and ice. Our initial plan was to simply use our power converter in our car, but it wasn't strong enough to power the blender so our backup plan was to seek out truck stops along our way to use the outlets in the trucker lounges.

While there are signs up saying "Truckers Only" we were welcomed into all of them, if you try this yourself I would advise making certain that you aren't disturbing or annoying anyone by your non-trucker presence. :)

Traveling with the Blendtec made for inexpensive, convenient and nutritious meals and we have decided we won't be traveling without it. While we did end up paying more for fruits and vegetables as we picked up exactly what we wanted on the go (as opposed to purchasing them in bulk and on sale) and we occasionally picked up overpriced convenience produce (pre washed greens or cored pineapple) none of the smoothies rang up at over $5 for a blender-full that was more than enough for Paul and myself to share.

That is $2.50 per person for breakfast, lunch or snack! You can't beat that price and you'd be hard pressed to beat the nutrient packed meal at any price from a restaurant.

I am working on writing down exactly what goes into our smoothies so I can share recipes - it's hard to do as Paul and I both have a tendency to throw things together, hold our breath and hope it works.

Both our boys adore these smoothies - in fact Wesley woke up hungry in the middle of the night and when I brought him into the kitchen and asked him what he'd like to eat he asked me for a smoothie. The boys have no idea that they are eating about 4oz of Kale or Spinach, 1-2 carrots and various other fruits and vegetables each day - they just love their "Smoovies".

And we love them too.

Our Fifth

2010-04-27T14:45:00.002-05:00

Grand Isle, LA

We are happy to be back home with our boys now.

Our 4 day anniversary trip isn't one we'll soon forget.

Early morning exercise

We drove 1,600 miles.

Each night sleeping in a different state.

Two nights camped out in the back of our car, mere feet from the Gulf of Mexico.

Listening to the waves crash and feeling the wind gently swaying our car as we drifted off to sleep.

Dauphin Island, AL

We saw things we will never forget.

Breath taking beauty of early morning sunrises over the Gulf.

And tragic remnants of hurricane flooding.

Flooded truck on Grand Isle, LA

While we missed our boys they were in the best of care with my sister and the time away together was just what we needed.

Celebrating our marriage, cultivating our friendship and experiencing new things together made for the most delightful of long weekends.

Oxford, AL

Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things. ~Author Unknown

10 Ideas to Make More Money

2010-04-22T15:00:00.003-05:00

Looking for ways to make money for the $20 Bill Challenge? Or just so you have more money? Here are ten ideas Paul and I have successfully applied either in the past or directly to this challenge.

Recreate things that have no value into something valuable.
Paul is interested in CrossFit and in an effort to create a cost efficient home gym he discovered that truck companies actually pay to dispose of the large truck tires.He called one and asked if he picked up the tires for free. The company was thrilled to comply and told him they had two available. He had no use for more than 1, but on a whim decided to list one on craigslist for $100, toting it as a great tool to use for CrossFit. He sold it. Unfortunately for him this was prior to the $20 bill challenge so it doesn't count for his total in our $20 Bill Challenge, but I think he may repeat this idea.
We have ideas for a few other things that are considered of no value, but we haven't tested the waters yet, so I'll save those ideas for another time.
Sell the things you own.
Paul has long been convicted of the idea that we should give away things that we own that we know friends of ours could use or be blessed by - whether it be cars, clothes, toys or furniture - instead of selling the items he likes to give them away. However there are items we have sold because we don't know anyone who could use it. (That iPod Paul sold for $40? He also refurbished a second ipod and gave it to a friend, in the midst of our challenge. I admire his generous heart.)
Point 3 and 4 are details on venues I have used to sell things.
Craigslist.
It really works - it is just tricky figuring out what sells in your city, when to post the deal and what price to start at. A year and a half ago I was trying to come up with $1,500 to buy my camera. It was the exact motivation I needed to get selling things on craigslist and within a matter of days I had made over $300 selling items from around the house.
I had low prices, so I beat out the competition.
I had well lit images.
I made myself available anytime of day for 3 days straight to make pick up times easy for the buyer.
Consignment Sales.
Consignment stores are a great way to get your clothes to a bunch of people who are specifically looking for great deals on second hand clothes (or other items, though I only have experience with clothing) - these shoppers are already in the market for second hand clothes so you just need to figure out what will appeal to the buyer!
Make sure your items are clean, wrinkle free, in season, stylish and still look great. Consider if you would purchase the item if you saw it on the rack - if it's faded, outdated or screams "Grandma" chances are, unless you are Grandma, you wouldn't buy it. (Chances are also very high that the Consignment store won't accept such items from you - they like to maintain their image too!)
A few weeks ago I made $56 profit at a local consignment shop- which has been added to my total for the $20 Bill Challenge.
Turn your artistic hobby into money.
If you already have the supplies and equipment needed to produce something that you could sell do it! Don't hold back because you think you need bigger or better equipment. If you don't think you can make money off your creation then try bartering it. You can approach bartering one of two ways, as outlined in number 8 and 9.
Turn your knowledge into money.
Figure out what area you are an expert in and use that to make money. This is a great place to apply tip number 10 - creating renewable income. Create patterns, digital tutorials and ebooks - you will put out the effort once to create these and can then continually sell the same product.
If you are still testing the waters to see if you can actually make cash off of being a self proclaimed expert than try bartering it, as outlined in number 8 and 9.
Turn services into money.
Think about what services you are capable of doing and what demographic you could market your knowledge to. To serve as a spring board of inspiration you could; do online tutoring, photo shoots, lawn care, minor car maintenance or be a personal fitness instructor.
These are things that can also be bartered. Check number 8 and 9 for more on that.
BARTERING - Go for Bigger or Better.
Did you play this game as a youth? You start with an egg and you go door to door asking people if they can offer you something bigger or better. The team that comes back with the biggest or best item wins. You can apply this principle to your money making strategies.This applies to either product based bartering, knowledge based bartering or service based bartering. Make available your offer (product, knowledge or service) - I find craigslist to be the best site for this - and state that you are looking for something in exchange for what you have available. In this situation don't be specific about what you are looking for, but do put a price value to the item you are looking for.
Sort through the offers you are sent and determine which item will either a) enable you to trade it up for something else bigger or better b) sell for enough money to have made this effort worthwhile or c) falls into what I cover in number 9.
BARTERING -Go for something that is of immediate monetary value to you.
When bartering having a specific need or want in mind will be an asset if you are looking to acquire things to simplify or better your life. I would caution against being too specific when it comes to stating what you are looking for as there might be similar options available that you aren't aware of and if you're too specific you could miss a great opportunity.
For example I once listed under the bartering section of Craigslist that I was looking for "Outdoor toys for boys." This was in exchange for a thirty minute photoshoot. Several people contacted me and I picked the toys I thought my boys would enjoy the most. I then saved the toys and gave them to my boys for Christmas - eliminating the need to spend cash on their gift and giving them a gift that I otherwise could not have afforded.
If you have already budgeted money to spend on gifts or household items and you figure out how to barter something you have to get those items for free I think you can pay yourself the budgeted money and add it to the $20 Bill Challenge!
Create Renewable Income.
Find a way to make money without trading your time for money - selling photography on stock sites, writing article, selling ebooks or patterns.
I probably shouldn't even mention this as I have put very little effort into this, but even my very little effort has paid off so I shall mention it - though feeling a little bit of a hypocrite! I signed up with an online how-to site a couple years ago and spent about ten minutes a day for the next two weeks submitting articles. I have occasionally submitted others since then, but with no consistency. With my half hearted effort I have made over $150 in two years. Not a lot of money stretched over two years, but considering what a pathetic effort I put into it (about 4 hours I would estimate) it is worth while!

The safe way to double your money is to fold it over once and put it in your pocket. ~Frank Hubbard

Participating in the $20 Bill Challenge? I would love to hear about it!

They Make My Heart Melt

2010-04-21T12:53:00.000-05:00

Have I said lately how much I love these two?

How much I love their imaginations.

And love their silly games.

And love that they are mine.

They are a beautiful gift.

And I am so thankful for them.

Recipe Exchange - Ladies Evening

2010-04-19T12:05:00.001-05:00

Inspired by this guest post on Passionate Homemaking I decided to host a recipe exchange at my house Friday evening. I sent an email out to friends and had it announced at church that any lady was welcome to come over Friday evening at 7 for a recipe exchange.

I asked that they each bring a weeks worth of dinner recipes and they could add breakfast and lunch ideas if they wanted. I asked them to bring 12 copies of their recipes and planned on scanning and emailing the rest out if there weren't enough copies. There were more than enough copies as I had 7 people cancel the day of!

Even though it turned out to be a small group it was a wonderful time together and we all ended up with an assortment of new recipes that have been tried and tested and proven delicious by others!

I made my two favorite cookies for the evening Lemon Cookies and Chai Cookies. They are both so easy to make and so flavorful. I really wish I didn't like them as much as I do!

I printed out one of the meal planners to give each lady. Crystal at Money Saving Mom has made these available on her site - she has a wonderful selection of free menu and shopping planners available and I recommend checking some of them out - there's bound to be one that matches your style!

I want to try to do these ladies evenings once every month or two.

My next idea is similar to what I did with the teen girls and the Accessory Exchange only I think I will make it a Household Items Exchange with the ladies.

I have a few other ideas in mind, but am looking for more! Share your ideas in the comments for something to do with a small or large group of ladies in an evening, preferably in my home. Thanks!

Lemon Cookies

2010-04-19T11:42:00.000-05:00

I have shared these before too, but again wanted to share them as they are so simple and delicious!

Ingredients
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup colored nonpareils

Lemon Icing
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel

1. In a small mixing bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in lemon peel. Combine flour and cornstarch, gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for one hour or until easy to handle.
2. Shape into a 1 3/4 inch diameter roll, roll in nonpareils. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours or until firm.
3. Unwrap and cut into 1/4 inch slices. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375 F for 9-11 minutes or until set and edges are slightly browned. Cool for 1 minute before removing to wire rack to cool completely.
4. In a small bowl combine icing ingredients. Spread over cookies.

Chai Tea Cookies

2010-04-19T11:37:00.001-05:00

I have shared these before but had to again - they are so yummy and so simple to make!

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup honey
4 bags chai tea bags*
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon strong chai tea (brewed and cooled)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the butter and honey until smooth. Empty the contents of the tea bags into the mixture and discard the bags. Mix until well blended.

2. Stir in the egg yolk and brewed chai tea. Blend in the flour and baking powder.

3. Divide into 3 sections, roll into 'snakes', wrap in waxed paper or plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Slice the cookies and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

5. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until the tops are dry, and the edges begin to brown lightly. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

Ice the cookies using icing sugar and strong, brewed chai tea.

Contest Winner

2010-04-17T21:34:00.000-05:00

Wow - I can't believe 73 of you signed up for the Seeds Family Worship giveaway! I wish I had a copy to send each of you, but sadly I don't.

I used random.org and it picked number 3, which is Sarah O. I'll be sending you an email shortly Sarah!

I'll be using more of these cds in the future as giveaways since I love them so.

In the meantime if you want to purchase your own copy don't forget the Seeds Family Worship coupon code PJMORRIS09 for a 20% discount off regular priced items.

Other contest related news - I won a giveaway this week! I am so excited. I won a personalized tile from Cute as a Fox. I thought for awhile about what I wanted to go on the tile and finally opted for a quote by Anthony Norris Groves which we have adopted as a motto for our family:

Labor hard

Consume little

Give much.

And all to the Lord.

Shopping At Indian and Asian Markets

2010-04-17T14:55:00.000-05:00

I am so excited about my latest discovery - two local international food markets.

A friend had been to the Asian food market and told me about it and I set out this morning to find it and accidentally went into an Indian shop. They had a lot of food that I didn't know as well as ones I did know but either haven't seen at the regular grocery store or they are way over priced at the grocery store.

Coconut milk, mangos, spices and beans ( I didn't buy the last two today) have THE lowest prices in the area.

In the Indian Market I picked up some watermelon seeds and some dried chickpeas for snack foods. They were $2 - $3 for a bag. About the price of a bag of chips and yet much healthier and you eat less of them in a sitting so they last longer too.

I was excited to find this yogurt drink - it was a special treat in Nigeria and I haven't seen it over here so even though it was priced at $2 for the small container I indulged for memories sake. It wasn't quite the same taste I remember, but we all enjoyed it.

A 2lb bag of Cream of Wheat for $2.

If I had to pick one food to eat for the rest of my life I think it would be Falafel. I thoroughly enjoy this fried ball made from chickpeas. I have tried several brands and made my own and my favorite by far is the Telma brand, which is hit or miss at the grocery store. The Indian store keeps the below brand in stock so I thought I would try it out and see what I think of the flavor.

I picked up this box thinking it was Papadums, which I love, but the man working in the store told me it was more like a thin cracker. I was curious enough I picked it up and am so glad I did! These have a great taste and I think would be great served as an appetizer with hummus or maybe to accompany a cucumber and tomato salad.

The Asian market had a lot of similar items to the Indian market. Some prices were higher and others were lower.

At the Asian market I picked up a can of Lychee. These things are so yummy! I want to figure out how to get them not canned in sugary syrup. We ate some for lunch and then I put some in a green smoothie.

I found my beloved papadums here. They are the cheapest I have ever found papadums at $1.25 for a dozen.

The Far Far is a colored appetizer similar to papadum. There was a huge language barrier between myself and the sweet lady running the store so when I asked her what Far Far was she explained in detail and then ended with "it is like this one here" pointing at the papadums. That is all I understood out of all she said.

I picked up two cans of coconut milk and then a box of coconut milk powder mix - we use a lot of coconut milk and this place has the BEST prices! One can was .89 cents and the other .99 cents. I bought both to see if there is a difference in quality. The powdered mix will end up being the most cost effective but I want to research the nutrition value of it.

The final item I picked up is my most exciting deal - 20 mangos for$10. That is .50 cents a mango! I have never seen them even close to that price at the grocery store. Occasionally they will drop to .80 cents when they are overly ripe and the store wants to get rid of them fast but usually they are $1.50 each. So these mangos were a great deal and the lady helped me pick ones that were both ready to eat now and that would slowly mature so that these will last us well over a week without getting too ripe.

Both owners told me they get produce in Thursday nights so Friday is the best day to come in if I want produce - the Indian store had almost no produce and the Asian one was well picked over so I will definitely be back there on a Friday to see what is available then. If everything is similarly priced as the mangos I will have just found our new source for produce!

I will be buying all of our coconut milk, beans, brown rice and papadums there.

I am debating buying yogurt - the Asian market had 5lbs of plain yogurt (not the drinkable mentioned above) for $6 - that is cheap, cheap, cheap for yogurt but I am wondering about the quality of it - anyone know?

Our First Anniversary Remembered and Plans for the Fifth

2010-04-14T21:08:00.001-05:00

April 23 will mark our 5 year anniversary. FIVE years! It's hard to believe how fast the last five years have gone by and at the same time how much has fit into 5 years!

For our first anniversary we were practically broke. We had free flying vouchers we'd been given for giving up our seats on a flight we'd taken earlier on that year and we'd saved those free vouchers to use for our anniversary. We didn't know where we wanted to go other than somewhere hot.

We randomly decided to fly to Phoenix, Arizona for no reason other than there were flights available on the weekend we had free.

At that point we were so broke we could pretty much only afford to fly - on our free vouchers - from the Cleveland airport to the Phoenix airport and do nothing else. Had it not been for our tax return that year that is all we would have done! We budgeted enough money to cover a 3 day car rental, gas and $25 for food for our weekend trip.

When we landed in Phoenix we went to pick up our car rental - the smallest, cheapest car they had available. By a beautiful turn of events, which we fully credit God for, the small cars had all been rented out and they upgraded us and included a few extra perks for free.

This jeep was our abode for the next three days:

We had no money to spend on a hotel or restaurant meals but our 1st anniversary trip to Arizona is one of our most favorite memories.

We slept in the car, ate food from the grocery store and had an incredible time together.

In the three days we were there we drove over 1,500 miles.

We started in Phoenix, AZ and then drove through a bit of California then went to Las Vegas, Nevada and then drove back - stopping at various sites along the way and randomly driving through neighborhoods to look at the beautiful homes.

It was so much fun.

We didn't buy any souvenirs. We didn't take in any shows. We didn't eat anywhere that required a tip. We spent less on that whole trip than most people would spend on two nights at a hotel.

That trip inspired an idea we have built on each year since then - to celebrate each anniversary in a different state, or in several different states.

Our second anniversary was spent in Georgia.

Our third in South Carolina.

Our forth in Tennessee.

And now that our fifth is upon us we tried to think up something special and memorable to do. And we kept thinking of our first anniversary. We have a lot more money now than we did that first year. But not having money that first year is, in large, what made the time together so memorable and fun. To this day thinking of my 6'4 husband squished inside the Jeep sleeping still makes me laugh.

A month or so ago our plan started to take shape.

We are going to drive through Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana and camp on a couple of beaches. Some of the camp sites are free and the others are about $10/night. We are going to spend money on some of the local attractions that have been raved about on tripadvisor.com and indulge in the local food as we're big foodies - but we're sticking to a budget and are going to try to spend even less then than amount. We want to purposefully spend as little as we can, while doing a few key things that we have researched ahead of time.

I am so excited! We plan to spend the first night at Dauphin Island. The second day drive through New Orleans and spend the second night in Grand Isle State Park. The third day we'll go back to New Orleans and then head up through Mississippi. We haven't figured out what to do in Mississippi or the finer points of each day. If anyone has been to any of those places I'd love suggestions on things to see or do!

Boy Terrain

2010-04-13T18:23:00.000-05:00

I have been working on this for awhile now and am excited to share my new blog project with everyone

BOY TERRAIN. I may occasionally double post here and there but my plan is to make Boy Terrain a unique place devoted to all things related to boys - games, dress up, crafts, food, etc.

Most of the posts are reposts from the archives here, but the most current is an original - Couch Time, My Solution to Two Boys and Nap Time.

Seeds Family Worship Giveaway

2010-04-12T08:49:00.002-05:00

Seed's Family Worship is still our favorite cd for the boys - I have all of them now and they get played in the house and in the car with great frequency.

Between the 5 cds there are 58 Bible verses and Judah (3) can sing along to all of them and Wesley (2) hums them. It's exciting to see them memorizing the Word of God.

And I love the music - kid friendly and grown up loved! Can't beat that :)

I am going to give away a CD of volume 5 The Power of Encouragement. Just leave a comment letting me know you'd like to win. If you refer someone and I draw their name you and that person will each win one - just ask your friends and blog readers to mention who referred them so I know :)

Contest ends on Saturday the 17th.

Open to anyone in the world.

Already have Volume 5? Enter anyway, I have several other volumes and will discuss with you which one you'd like.

Don't have kids? Enter anyway and gift it to someone- you'll make their day!

Already won something from me? You can enter again. I still love you.

If you want to purchase additional cds for your family or as gifts use the Seeds Family Worship coupon code PJMORRIS09 - just enter it when you checkout at Seeds Music Store for a 20% discount off an regular priced item.

This giveaway is not sponsored in any way. I am giving away the cd simply because I love them. A lot.

The $20 Bill Challenge

2010-04-09T21:51:00.004-05:00

If you are coming over from MSM welcome! I am so glad you found your way here.
Checkout my newest project Boy Terrain - a blog devoted to raising boys. Have a great day and let me know if you try this challenge! I would love to know!

Several weeks ago I was thinking about ways to earn a bit of extra money and I had an idea - what if Paul and I each started with a small amount of money and used it to make even more money over the course of a year.
From this idea our Twenty Dollar Bill Challenge was born.

The challenge is simply this - we each get one $20 bill and at the end of the year the person who has made the most money wins.
Wins what we haven't yet decided. But the satisfaction of beating the other person would be pretty great on its own. We're each others biggest cheerleaders but we enjoy a good challenge between us too.

We've made a few simple rules to keep ourselves on target:
- We are able to sell personal items but we'll still check with each other to make sure the other person doesn't mind the item that's being sold.
- We can't 'borrow' money to invest in another project if our current funds are all tied up in a current project.

Those are the simple rules we have made up - if other issues arise along the way we'll sit down and see if we need to add to the rules, but the point of this is to challenge ourselves to think outside the box and see if we can keep investing money in projects and make a larger return.

I mentioned already where my initial $20 went - to paying for frames and prints of my photography to be sold in a store. There's the potential to make a lot of money there, but there's also the risk of this failing and I will be out of the running as I put all my money in one place.

I am really excited about what Paul did for his initial challenge - he had an old ipod that didn't work that someone gave him and he spent about $6 on a battery and fixed it up and has a buyer that is going to pay $40 for it. Since he still has $14 from the initial $20 he now has $54 to roll into his next project idea.

The process may take awhile to get rolling, but we're hoping to be able to expand our money into several different areas at one time as we're making more money. I am excited to see where this challenge takes us and I'll update along the way!

Want to join in and do it too?! Let me know if you pick up on the challenge! I'd love to hear about it :)

Spring Cleaning

2010-04-08T09:52:00.000-05:00

We are loving this beautiful weather - with highs in the 90's we have practically been living outside with the hose.

Either living outside or decluttering inside. I recently read the book Power of Less by Leo Babauta and it was just the kick I needed to start my decluttering. I highly recommend this book - it is fairly short, easy to read and categorized by chapter meaning you can easily pick and chose the subjects that interest you. I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

In the past few weeks I have been amazed at the amount of stuff I have piled together to pass on to others, send to the thrift store or toss.

JD. Roth recently wrote an excellent post about spending based on who you are, not who you hope to be. Wow - it was a great post and I think it translates over so smoothly when trying to decide what items to keep and which items to get rid of - own items based on who you are, not who you hope to be.

Have a closet full of clothes that are too small hoping you'll lose weight and be able to wear them someday? Pass them on to someone who can wear them now.

Have a large pile of cookbooks but always use recipes from online or from memory? Consider passing the cookbooks on to new bride who might be starting her own collection of recipes

Have an electric wok in your kitchen hoping you'll someday perfect Chinese cooking but have no time to do it now? (cough ~~Paul Morris~~ cough) Pass it on to someone else who might be interested in such a hobby.

Money Saving Mom is running a great series right now encouraging people to downsize and declutter - it's been an inspiration to read and you may enjoy it too!

Happy Spring Cleaning!

You Have to Go Home Now

2010-04-06T23:33:00.000-05:00

My sister came down here just before Christmas and has been here since then, living in our rather chilly basement in our rather uncomfortable-for-long-term-sleeping air mattress.

It has been so fun to have her here - someone to talk with when Paul is away for days - or weeks- on end. Someone to watch girly shows with. Someone to help me at the grocery store. Someone to watch the boys while Paul and I go out. Someone to help make meals, switch a load of laundry over or vacuum the floors.

Sometimes she makes me giggle to myself when she says "Wow - I just did the dishes and now there's more. This never ends." I know that feeling well. Only for the past 4 months I've had someone to share in all that and cut my work load in half and I have appreciated it so much.

The other day I realized that our boys don't remember a day when Aunt Essie didn't live in our basement. To them her living with us is as normal as bubbles in the bathtub or milk in your cereal.

I thought it was my motherly duty to warn them, particularly Judah, of her upcoming departure date - which is still a month away but I thought I should start early.

The conversation went something like this:

Me: "Judah, do you know Aunt Essie has to leave us in a month and go back to her house?"

Judah: "NO NO NO!! SHE CAN'T."

Me: "But she needs to. She lives in Canada with her mommy and daddy and they miss her and she needs to go back to live with them again."

Judah: "No! She can't leave me."

Me: "I know, it'll be so sad when she leaves, but you can talk to her on the phone and maybe we can go visit."

Judah didn't say anything more.

Moments later I heard him in the other room talking to Esther. He said;

"Mommy said you have to go home now."

Seriously.

Don't ever take things my kids say I said literally.

Please.

Five Finger Shoes

2010-04-05T21:39:00.000-05:00

I am so excited - Paul went to Charlotte for work today and picked us each up a pair of Vibram Five Finger Shoes. No where in our area has our sizes in stock and the orders are backed up online. Paul called 13 different stores in Charlotte before he found one that had our sizes in stock - and even then they didn't have our top color choices in stock.

I'll post a thorough review once I've worn them for more than three hours - but so far I love them and haven't taken them off since he gave them to me!

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T17:06:00.000-05:00

"Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, because He lives, ALL fear is gone, because I know He holds the future, and life is worth the living just because He lives!"

-Gaithers

Forgetting What Simple Is

2010-04-03T22:13:00.000-05:00

While the boys slept I filled their Easter baskets with the simple items I had chosen for them and then made a ribbon maze around the house. Each boy had their own ribbon leading from their bedroom door and they wound downstairs, outside, under the table and all the silly places Paul and I could think up. The other end of the ribbon was tied to their basket.

Neither of them got it. They kept asking where their balloon was.

Brilliant boys I've got.

They know what type of ribbon balloons from the Dollar Tree are tied with.

Their innocent request for a balloon at the end of the ribbon made me pause and think -

Why, exactly, did I set their expectations so high for all the following Easters when a simple balloon would have made them giddy with excitement? It certainly wasn't on purpose. In fact, I intentionally tried to keep it simple- all that was in the baskets was bubbles and books.

But I missed the mark.

Compared to the elaborate baskets being sold in the stores it was simple.

Compared to the pictures you see on TV and in magazines it was simple.

Compared to some of the plans I have read on varies blog posts it was simple.

But I was comparing. Not intentionally. Not judgmentally.

I just forgot what simple was in reference to two little boys.

My two little boys.

Next year we will do the ribbon mazes again.

It was a lot of fun!

But next year at the end of their ribbon will be a balloon.

*we did our Easter baskets Saturday morning as Paul has to work Sunday*

Our Living Room - Before and After

2010-04-02T16:45:00.002-05:00

Once upon a time our living room looked like this.

Once upon a time being before we purchased it.

Here is another look at how the previous owners decked out the living room:

The day we got the keys to the house we tore up that carpet and a few months later this is what the living room looked liked:

And the other angle

(Sorry, don't know why the quality is so bad on this one!)

We bought the floors from Lumber Liquidators and Paul lay the hardwood floors himself and can I just say I am SO proud of him for figuring it out and doing it all himself?!?!

When I saw Sarah was offering consultations I immediately signed up for it and (eventually got around to!) sending her an email with pictures and some ideas we had.

We didn't really have a clue what we were doing and Sarah's suggestions were so helpful in giving us a direction! I'm not sure if her style has changed but it was so perfect for us - a numbered list of ideas for where things could go in the room, pieces we could add and ideas for decorating. I got her rates at a steal of $10 a consult and they've since gone up to $40 - still a great deal if you're looking for some personal insight for your decorating needs!

Our room is still not totally finished but it is close enough that I am ready to share pictures!

This is our room now and here it is from the other direction:

As you can see from the picture the couches are so new the tags haven't been cut off yet!

We purchased the couches from a local store but they are Ashley brand couches.

The cushions are a tad wrinkled as moments before this picture was taken two little boys were cuddling on it :) The cushions are all reversible - LOVE that! But our absolute favorite part about the couches is the back of them:

We knew we'd be floating at least one of them in the middle of the room and wanted to be sure the back of the couch was attractive to look at. We looked at TONS of couches - it is quite rare for a couch to be attractive from the back!

We opted to go with two love seats instead of the traditional love seat and sofa. We haven't regretted the decision at all.

We picked out the curtains from Tuesday Morning. I will eventually get a thicker curtain rod as the current one is somewhat dwarfed by the curtains, but that is a down the road project.

I picked up these shelves at a yard sale last year for $10 each. They were the most horrid salmon color, but with built in lights I saw the potential and bought them both. We are avid game players and decided to display some of our games on these shelves.

This side table was $1 at a yard sale. It was brown so I painted it a couple shades darker than our walls, which doesn't really show up in the pictures. The drawers were broken and I have been putting off fixing them. We plan on adding more black framed photographs to this wall.

The final piece to our room is this beautiful piano we picked up at a yard sale last summer. It fits perfectly in this space!

It's hard to believe that these two rooms were the same space!!

Interested in GREEN SMOOTHIES? Check out part 1 and part 2 in my series of Why We Eat 3 Green Smoothies a Day.

Boys Dress Up Clothes

2010-03-30T20:58:00.002-05:00

I am thrilled to have my friend Sarah share a tutorial on how to make a kilt for little boy dress up. Great dress up clothes for boys are so hard to come by and when I saw a picture of this on Facebook I knew I wanted to add it to my boys assortment of manly men dress up clothes and asked her if she would mind guest posting and sharing it with everyone. She has provided clear, detailed instructions and great pictures to lead you through each step - and how gorgeous is her son Magnus?!

Be sure to stop by Sarah's etsy shop for an assortment of hand crafted goodies. Thank you so much Sarah for providing this wonderful tutorial!

Hello! I am so excited to be a guest blogger for Jessica and to show you how to make an easy, incredibly adjustable, truly manly dress-up, the kilt! My Magnus is 2 and has a 3year old sister, whose great delight is dressing up as a princess, a ballerina, or both at the same time. As my son loves to do whatever she does, we substitute "prince" or "knight" elements for his costumes, but he still gets to dance around, jump off couches and wave things around in his very special outfit, just like Susanna.

The kilt has up to 4 inches of adjustment in it so it will be good for years to come, and the sample ones I've made will fit 2-5 years. And there is no zipper! Although I am a generally proficient sewer, I'm afraid I have not mastered the zipper. It is basically a simple pleated wrap skirt and has very little in common with real kilt-craft, the art of which I could only admire from afar.
Cost: about $7

You will need:
*A length of cotton plaid. You need about 12 inches for the kilt (longer based on your child) and 3 inches for the waistband so I bought 15 inches. Seam allowances included.
$3.99-$4.99 a yard at your local Joann's, it is washable and comes in many colors and is about 41 inches wide. Price $2.08, but print off one of their easily obtainable coupons for 40% off and it's $1.25!
*1-5/8" button, from the button box
*1-4-1/2in piece of 1/2" elastic, I have it on hand or it is about $2 a package
*1-4in piece of 5/8" sew-on velcro, also about $2 a package
*1 kilt pin- $1.79 for two available at your local craft store near the safety pins
a bit of felt, placed on the back side of kilt front, to keep the pin from tearing cloth

Wash and dry your fabric. There is no right or wrong side on this cotton plaid.

Cut a 3 inch strip off lengthwise for the waistband and trim it to one-and-a-half times your child's waist (M's waist is 20", the waistband is 30")
Use iron to press 1/4" to 1/2" seam allowance down both long sides of waistband strip. Also press same seam allowance both ends. Fold waistband in half lengthwise and press.
Fold bottom of kilt cloth (12" by 41") over 1/4in twice for hem and pin. Sew hem. Remove pins. This is the bottom of the kilt. The ends of your kilt cloth should be selvage, and should not need to be hemmed.

Place a marking pin the distance of half your child's waist (10" for me) from each end of the long kilt cloth. You need to pleat and pin the fabric between the pins, making the cloth shorter and shorter until it is the same length between pins as on the ends (10" for me).

So now the cloth is even thirds, for me 10"to first pin, 10" pleated fabric, 10" from last pin to end. Total length should now be equal to your pressed waistband length so make any adjustments now until they are equal. Sew straight line down pinned pleats 1/2" from the top of fabric to baste the pleats in place. Remove pins.

Fold the pressed waistband over the raw edge top of the kilt and pin. The two halves of the waistband sandwich the whole top edge and the basted pleats. The pressed seam allowances should be tucked under the back, front and both ends.

Sew through all layers end to end about 1/8" from bottom of waistband.
Iron your pleats from top to bottom.

Insert end of elastic 3/4" into right side of the waistband (the right side when looking at the inside of the kilt, when the folded hem is visible).
Stitch across waistband to anchor elastic in place.
Sew the free end of the the elastic to prevent fraying.
Snip 4 slits in elastic 3/8" long down it's length. These are the button holes and provide adjustment.
Test each hole to make sure button passes snugly.

Sew button on the inside of the waistband. As you try it on your child the pleats go in back, the elastic end of the kilt goes across tummy to button on their right side. Place the button where the waist size is comfortable when buttoned at the smallest size (using buttonhole closest to kilt). Thus there is room to grow as you use farther buttonholes!

Sew on velcro. Loop side will be on the inside of the waistband at the end, where the right side flap covers the left side flap on the front of your child. The hook side should be placed carefully on the front of the left side flap. Place it where it will still meet the loops even as your child grows and uses expanding buttonholes.
Attach your kilt pin, using scrap of cloth or felt behind the kilt cloth to prevent ripping. I don't pin the kilt layers together, it just makes it harder to put on and off.
Please Enjoy!

More about Sarah: I am a joyful wife of one and mother of two living outside DC. I get to stay home with my children and I get some kicks and a lot of identity moonlighting as an ED nurse. I love many things, some of which are; reading, road-tripping, out-doorsing, stitching, giving good gifts, cloth and paper, library book sales, theology, candy, advocacy for choice in childbirth, housekeeping, corresponding, libertarian politics, and string lights.

See my shop at www.simplysarai.etsy.com. If you aren't up to making your own kilt I'm selling some there.
The pictured wooden sword can be found at www.etsy.com/shop/SmileMoon and it's sheath is here: www.etsy.com/shop/birchleafdesigns

Thanks again Sarah! If you have any questions about the instructions feel free to ask in the comments and I will pass them on to Sarah. If you make one we'd love to know about it!

Sharing on My Romantic Home and Shabby Nest

Going on a Bear Hunt

2010-03-29T11:40:00.000-05:00

Dramatic Black and White

2010-03-28T23:25:00.000-05:00

Paul taught Wesley how to do perfect push ups.

The top photograph is my submission for I Heart Faces, but I couldn't not post the series of pictures I took of Wesley getting his lesson.

One Year

2010-03-28T20:31:00.000-05:00

One year ago today we moved into our house.

It would have been fun to have celebrated that fact, but I only just remembered this evening.

And Paul is still working.

So I will silently celebrate a wonderful year in our house.

A house that has become our home.

I remember when we were waiting for the paper work to be final on the house - there were several issues with minor details and it seemed to take FOREVER to go through. In reality it was only a matter of weeks from when we first saw the house to when it was actually ours but it felt like months upon months of waiting. And now that we are in it the past year has just flown by.

We are so thankful for the beautiful house God provided for us.

These are some of the beauties growing in our backyard right now:

Favorite Places

2010-03-28T11:03:00.000-05:00

I stumbled upon The Gypsy Mama's blog today and love her most recent post of her favorite places in the world. Inspired to play along I spent the last hour happily looking through my digital library of pictures spanning the past 7 years and picked out some of my most favorite places.

Beach Blanket

2010-03-25T19:28:00.001-05:00

With the weather warming up and dreams of picnics at the park and trips to the beach I was inspired to make the perfect beach blanket for us.

Perfect being water proof, not perfectly constructed!

Given my impatience and lack of sewing skills it isn't quite perfect but apart from not actually being a real shape, each corner looking different from the other, a tiny bit of puckering and the back lining showing up on the front side in a couple places it is perfect enough for its intended uses!

What I hate most about blankets is that if you (unknowingly) set them out on damp grass or sand it soaks right through the blanket and what should have been a cozy, dry place to sit is now damp and uncomfortable.

I think I have figured out a way around that.

I bought 4 large towels at the thrift store, washed them and then cut them up and patched them together.

I added a couple decorations to some of the squares, including our last name initial:

For the backing I bought the largest vinyl table cloth that the store had - I'm not sure what the inches were but it was to seat 8-10 people so it was quite large. I ended up losing about 2 feet of length from the tablecloth as I didn't have enough towels. I made sure to pick out a table cloth that coordinated with the towels I had bought.

The final step was to put the front side of the table cloth against the front side of the towels and sew around the edges, leaving a gap so I could turn it right side out and then sew the gap closed.

It took me almost 2 weeks to finish sewing around the edges because I kept putting it off as it is somewhat of a nuisance to have that much fabric following you as you sew. But I finished it today and am thrilled with my imperfect beach blanket.

From what I have read online the vinyl tablecloths can be washed in cold water and dried on the cool setting. I plan on washing in cold water and line drying when it needs to be cleaned.

Sharing on My Romantic Home and The Shabby Nest

A Night of Judging

2010-03-24T14:09:00.000-05:00

Last evening I had the privilege of sitting in a classroom at a local high school and listen to 7 different seniors present their senior year projects to a panel of judges.

I was judge number 4.

I spent almost three hours with a piece of paper and pencil in front of me judging the kids based on their appearance, the frequency of the words "um", "ah" and "like..." in their speech, the depth of the research presented, the clarity in ideas, their conclusion and their ability to answer all our questions - amongst several other requirements. It was so much fun!

The variety of subjects covered was both interesting and enlightening. The students assigned to our room talked about Smokeless tobacco, Dress making, Pastel drawing, Fostering animals from a shelter, Ballroom dancing, Ophthalmology and Banking cord blood.When I was leaving I walked past a classroom where one guy was doing his presentation in a fireman uniform and another person waiting in the hallway was getting into a divers outfit. The diversity kept it fun!

It is hard to judge other people - I wanted so badly to give everyone perfect scores but not everyone deserved perfect scores and it was truly hard to dock points because they kept their eyes glued on the ceiling or because they couldn't intelligently answer questions related to their research.

And when the nervous ones walked in the room I wanted to give them each a hug and tell them I understood, that it really wasn't as bad as it might seem.

All of the highschools in the county do these senior projects and presentations and they rely on a panel of judges made up from people in the community to judge the presentations - though from what I saw last evening it looked like it was mainly parents and teachers serving as judges.

I would highly recommend you looking into your local high school and see if they have a similar program set up and if so jump at the chance to sit and listen to these students - I learned a few new things, enjoyed watching the various abilities of public speaking the students displayed and was all around entertained for the evening while helping out my community.
I had such a fun time I am planning on doing both evenings next year and have asked Paul to come do it too.

Winner

2010-03-23T20:35:00.000-05:00

The winner of the two books is Jessica - and since she lives right near me and I won't have to pay shipping I'll be hosting another giveaway soon :) Congrats Jess!

"Focusing on Angles"

2010-03-22T09:01:00.000-05:00

From our recent trip to the zoo.

Ciabatta Bread

2010-03-20T16:03:00.004-05:00

My sister has made quite the contribution to our ~~waistlines~~ meals and we have enjoyed almost all of her kitchen creations - the braised cucumber I could have lived without trying! But the rest have been great successes. By far my favorite of her recipes is this One Minute Bread. It is so easy and delicious! She has made it three times for us in the past week. Recipe taken from her blog.

Ingredients

2 cups warm water
1/4 tsp dry yeast
4 cups flour
1 tsp salt

Mix the yeast and warm water in a medium sized bowl. I used a 12 cup bowl and it might have overflowed if I left it for the correct amount of time.
Add the flour and salt and mix with a spoon until well mixed.
Cover with plastic wrap or a dish towel and place somewhere safe for 8-12 hours. I left mine for 5 hours and it turned out nicely.
Preheat the oven to 375. The original website says 400 but the bottom of my bread slightly overcooked and I don't think the inside was as cooked as it could have been.
Gently pour the dough onto a floured or greased cookie sheet and sprinkle the top with dried oregano, basil, and rosemary or any other herbs you think would taste good.
Bake for about 25 minutes. If you lower the heat you may have to bake longer, I did mine for 25 minutes on a floured cookie sheet and some of it stuck.

She also made a delicious Olive Oil Dip for the bread too - it went so well with the bread I would recommend making it to go along with the bread!

Interested in GREEN SMOOTHIES? Check out my latest post on how we used them on our 4 day road trip for healthy, inexpensive meals and snacks.

Insecurities

2010-03-17T21:19:00.000-05:00

I did something new, scary and thoroughly out of my element.

I submitted some of my photography to a store to be sold.

The last few months I have discovered some interesting things about myself, top among them being insecurities about my photography.

When I was in Charleston I spent an entire day taking pictures of things - the beach, the buildings - objects that were just there. I realized in taking all the pictures of things that I enjoyed it much more than I enjoy taking pictures of people because there was no risk of disappointing people with subpar photography.

I was pretty surprised to discover those hidden insecurities. But they are there. And they are real.

Since realizing my insecurities I have decided to do something about them - and thus, in part, my search to find a store that would carry my photography.

I feel very much out of my element - out of control. Vulnerable to other peoples criticism. Exposed.

It's hard to acknowledge my insecurities.

It is harder still to tackle them and decide to do something about it.

It feels - weird.

And I don't particularly like it.

And I hope the weird feeling passes quickly.

I shared that submitting my photography was in part to aid me in getting out of my comfort and "safe" zone - the other part of it is because Paul and I have started a year long challenge with each other. We've dubbed it "The $20 Bill Challenge" and I am so excited about it! I will share more in depth about it later this week.

But until then - I want to know:

How have you pushed yourself out of your "comfort zone"?

And did it feel weird?

A Giveaway - Books

2010-03-16T15:04:00.001-05:00

I have been enjoying this book Making Children Mind Without Losing Yours so much I went back to the thrift store to look for another copy to giveaway on my blog - and sure enough there was a second copy there! I have a slightly newer book which I think he's added a bit to, but the copy pictured above is the one I have to giveaway. Just so you know - the person who owned this book before highlighted and underlined some portions of the book. It's interesting to look through it as the person highlighted different portions of the book than I did! This is not a brand new copy of the book - I don't want anyone to be disappointed when they receive a well cared for second hand book!

While looking through the books I also found this one called Wonder Play. I had never heard of it before but glanced through it and liked what I saw. I'll be looking through it more in depth this week, but I am going to include it with the first book mentioned too as it looks like a fun idea book for infant through preschool age kids - if you have no use for this second book but are interested in winning the first one would you kindly leave a note in your comment that you only want the first book? If your name is drawn I will send you the first book and draw a second winner for just Wonder Play.

As always - I will mail this set of books world wide. Just leave a comment letting me know you'd like to win. I'll leave this open for one week and will announce the winner next Tuesday.

Engagement Shoot

2010-03-15T19:40:00.000-05:00

A few favorites from an engagement shoot yesterday, taken out at her grandfathers farm.

I Don't Want Him To Be Your Friend

2010-03-14T21:14:00.000-05:00

Can I share a secret? The influence I have over my children sometimes scares me. It's an influence I am honored to have, but sometimes the responsibility of it all is overwhelming.

The things I make priorities, the words I chose to say, the attitudes I have - they are all things echoed by my boys.

I found this trunk at the Thrift Store a couple weeks ago for $5.

The fact that it was wooden more than made up for it's less than desirable character motif and I knew it would be an easy project to repaint it - in fact it's sitting on my back porch now one coat away from completion.

The Sponge Bob design on it made for a humorous exchange with Judah, but at the same time shows the enormous influence I have on the way he thinks of things.

As I was loading the wooden trunk in the car Judah says to me;

"Mommy, what is that thing?"

-"It's a trunk Judah."

-"Oh. Well, who is on it?"

-"No one."

-"NO! It's someone. I saw it. Who is it?"

-"No one you need to know."

-"No, no! He's my friend. Who is he?"

-"His name is Sponge Bob. And he is not your friend."

-"Yes. He is my friend."

-"Judah, you didn't even know what his name was. He's not your friend."

"He is my friend. I like him. He's my friend."

(pause)

-"Mommy, what are we doing with him?"

-"I am going to paint over it so it matches your bedroom."

-"NO, NO! You can't paint him. He's my friend."

-"Judah, mommy doesn't like Sponge Bob. Mommy doesn't want Sponge Bob to be your friend - and mommy is going to paint over him."

-"Ok mommy. He's not my friend."

And that was that. He even watched me paint over Sponge Bob and didn't say a word about his 20-second friend disappearing under a thick coat of Secret Passage colored paint.

A Fun and Different Bridal Shower Game

2010-03-13T13:07:00.003-05:00

http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/

I love games but shower games can be a little hard to make personable and fun at the same time. When I was asked to do a game for a recent Jack and Jill shower I scoured the internet for ideas and put a twist on a great idea I read about.

The game was a lot of fun and worked really well with both men and women of varying ages.

The game is simply a poem, a few lines written on each page, that instruct you who to pass the book onto next. The lines of the poem tell you a bit about the couple and you learn about the people in the group too.

The person who ends up holding the book in the end gets the prize.

I had done the couples engagement pictures so I had a lot of photographs of them readily available - if you have to collect the photographs from the bride or groom it might make this a bit more work, though if they have a Facebook account you could always use those photographs - they should print as 4x6 photographs without a problem! I think the photographs add a nice, personal touch to the whole thing.

If it was a smaller bridal shower it might be fun to make the pictures of the bride with all of her girlfriends for this game and also make the poem more personal with fun memories tossed into it.

I had an old photobook that I didn't really like so I took it apart and cut card stock to size, added the 4x6 pictures and wrote the poem out for each page. The pages were then stapled together and glued into the seam of the book. Having the actual book made for a prettier presentation, but you could easily make a book cover out of cardstock and use that.

You could also add stickers and other embellishments to each page to dress it up a bit.

Here is the poem as I used it - I don't remember where I found the original but I tweaked it and added a few new lines to make it work for both men and women.

This game is really easy and we hope you will have fun.
No one can tell who the winner is until the game is done.
Each page of rhymes will tell you exactly what to do.
They will lead you to the winner- perhaps it will be you.
Roses are red, Violets are blue -
Now please pass this to the person
Who is just left of you.

Brian and Rachel are counting down to their special day.
We're all excited for them - it's not that far away!
Now please pass this to the person with the most recent birthday.

They are still preparing for there are still things left to do.
Please pass this book to the person with the eyes of brightest blue.
But if there are no blue eyes to be completely fair
You must give this to the person who has the longest hair.

There are many binds in marriage - faith and love are the strongest.
Now please pass this to the man who has been married the longest.

Wedding bells will be ringing soon and "I do's" we'll hear them say.
Please pass this book to the person who was last to arrive today.
XYZ St. in (city) is where they will reside.
Please pass this to the person who nearest them abides.

Family and friends came here today from places near and far.
Please pass this book to the person that came furthest in their car.

When Brian asked the question they became an engaged pair.
Please pass this book to the person who knows that date and shares.

Brian and Rachel are going to Jamaica really soon.
Please pass this to a person that was also there for their honeymoon.
But if no one has been to this great place,
Then pass this to the person who sits directly across from your space.

Brian and Rachel have 16 people in their wedding party standing up with them.
Please pass this book 16 times to the left to find the winner and the game will end.

Linking up with Shabby Nest

Learning from Failures at Home

2010-03-10T20:25:00.000-05:00

"Your home should be a place where your children can fail and learn from their failures."

-from Making Children Mind Without Losing Yours by Dr. Kevin Leman

I am reading through Dr. Leman's book right now and am really enjoying it. I read the above quote a couple of days ago and have had it on my mind ever since.
I have been thinking about what it means as a parent for my home to be a place where my children can fail and have so far come up with three things that I think are important in order for my home to be a place where the children can fail and learn from their failures.

1. My children need to see when I fail. Human beings are flawed, sinful beings. I make mistakes, fail to accomplish things, fail to have the right attitude. I certainly don't think parents need to tell their children all the ways they fail all the time but I also don't think parents should put on a persona of having it all right all the time either. My children need to know that I fail so that they can know it's ok that they fail too. They also need to see me exemplify how I learn from my failures so that they, too, can use their failures as a means to grow.

2. My children need to know what failure is. In order for a child to know he has failed he needs to know what is expected. There needs to be a standard. An absolute. And if it's not met - if they fail - the standard cannot be lowered to spare their feelings of failure. (Obviously if you set the standards unrealistically high then you would lower them, but that, I believe, is a different matter.)
I don't think any parent wants to see their child not do well at something, let alone have the child feel like they didn't do well at something, but if the standards we set out for our children continually get lowered because we don't want them to fail they will never learn from their failures. They will never get better.

3. My children need to know that they are loved when they fail. My love for my children is not based on their performance. I want them to do well. I want them to grow and to learn. But when they fail at something my love for them does not change. I do not expect them to fail, but I know that they will.

What do you think of the quote?
And what are your thoughts on creating a home where children can fail and learn from their failures?

Creating A Table

2010-03-09T10:19:00.003-05:00

It is easy to create a nice looking table when company will be over to see it.

When I know other people - people other than my own family - will get to enjoy a pretty looking table.

And lately I have begun to wonder why.

Why don't I use nicer dishes for every day dinners?

Why don't I make fancy looking drinks - if only water with fruit- for my boys?

Why don't I put fresh flowers from the garden on the table for just us to enjoy?

And you know, I really couldn't come up a good answer.

Dishes are just dishes. If they break then they break. We can always buy more.

I might cry if it's my pretty wedding crystal. But I'll get over it.

Using a pretty pitcher and adding chunks of frozen fruit takes seconds to do.

Cutting flowers and adding them to the table takes less than a minute.

I realized that there was no good reason to not make every dinner an occasion to be a little bit special.

So I have spent an extra couple minutes to light candles, pull out the crystal, put a table cloth on the table and create a simple center piece.

And I like what has happened.

We enjoy our food more.

We enjoy each other more.

We toast each other with our water filled goblets.

We talk and laugh and joke together.

We sit silently just enjoying being together.

It's not that those things didn't happen before in one form or another.

But now we spend longer doing those things.

We can sit for over an hour enjoying each other and our dinner and, I believe, it is in part because I have attempted to create a table that says "Sit and stay awhile. I like you. I enjoy you."

Any tips or ideas you have done to encourage a special dinner experience with your family?

Linking up to

Tasty Tuesday

Tuesdays Unwrapped

The State of Masculinity in Modern Culture

2010-03-08T10:23:00.001-05:00

My brother Caleb blogs and what he says is worth reading.

Especially his recent piece entitled The State of Masculinity in Modern Culture.

Down through history, cultures have had initiation processes that boys have had to pass to become men. Whether it be in First Nations Tribal life where a boy would spend a night by himself in the wilderness, or in some African cultures where there is bodily tattooing/and or piercing. To either extent, a boy knows when he is a man, and can thus rearrange his worldview accordingly and start to live up to society's expectations of him. However, it is my opinion that this is untrue in Westernized Society. In the homogeneous, 'anything goes', embrace-all-views-society that we have cultured, we have sadly forgotten to create a culture. In this vacuum, generations of children have grown into adulthood with no real knowledge of when they have crossed that line. Along with their lack of indoctrination into the adult world, men have also lost the definition of what it means to be a man...

Click over to finish reading his piece.

Sock Bunny - Using Mismatched Socks

2010-03-05T19:12:00.002-05:00

I have an abundance of mismatched socks and one evening while listlessly staring at the pile of odd socks I was inspired to make bunnies out of them - I am so glad I did as I think these little guys are so cute!

They are simple to make.

You will need:

-socks

-scissors

-needle and thread

-buttons for the eyes and/or nose

-stuffing

-sticks to stand them on

-ribbon

Start out with a plain sock, turn it inside out.

Cut down the center of it til you're near the heel. The heel area will become the face.

Stitch the ears and then turn right side out.

Stitch on the mouth.

The eyes and nose can either be stitched on or a button.

Stuff your bunny and add a hair bow if desired.

Put a bit of glue on the end of your stick and place inside the bunny. Tie with ribbon.

I found these cute Easter Eggs at the Dollar Tree and was inspired to make this little pot for the bunnies - it was easy and cheap!

To make this pot you will need:

A large pot

Floral Foam

Moss

Easter Eggs (already on sticks) -I bought a bag of smaller ones and a bag of larger ones

I added two of the bunnies to the pot and it's sitting just inside our front door to greet our guests.

Linking to FRUGAL FRIDAY

SHOW AND TELL

Life As I See It

Moving

A Good Secret

Schwan's - What to Order, and What Not to Order

You in the Pictures

Last Minute

Grapefruit Alaska

Thrift Store Shopping - Update

Summer Plans

Breads

Yard Sale Find

The Jumping Thing...

Kinderkitchen Products for Budding Chefs

Green Smoothie for Veggie Hater

Defining Priorities

Green Smoothies - the Liquids

Green Smoothies - the Leafy Greens

It is Coming!

Help me win $200!!

Reflections - Morning Devotions

Curried Black Beans over Couscous

The Perfect Cup of Coffee

Why We Drink Green Smoothies 3 Times a Day Part 3

Faces &Flowers

A Weekend of Joy

The Warrior Diet

Exhaustingly Endless Mommy Day

Lychee Fruit & Green Smoothies - 5 recipes

Why We Drink Green Smoothies 3 Times a Day

Boycotting Clothes

$500 Video

Creating a Family Motto

*Video* Green Smoothie - Recipe #3

Where Danger Lurks...

Green Smoothie - Recipe #2

Green Smoothie - Recipe #1

Green Smoothies - Fast Food for on the Road

Our Fifth

10 Ideas to Make More Money

They Make My Heart Melt

Recipe Exchange - Ladies Evening

Lemon Cookies

Chai Tea Cookies

Contest Winner

Shopping At Indian and Asian Markets

Our First Anniversary Remembered and Plans for the Fifth

Boy Terrain

Seeds Family Worship Giveaway

The $20 Bill Challenge

Spring Cleaning

You Have to Go Home Now

Five Finger Shoes

Happy Easter

"Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, because He lives, ALL fear is gone, because I know He holds the future, and life is worth the living just because He lives!"

-Gaithers

Forgetting What Simple Is

Our Living Room - Before and After

Boys Dress Up Clothes

Going on a Bear Hunt

Dramatic Black and White

One Year

Favorite Places

Beach Blanket

A Night of Judging

Winner

"Focusing on Angles"

Ciabatta Bread

Insecurities

A Giveaway - Books

Engagement Shoot

I Don't Want Him To Be Your Friend

A Fun and Different Bridal Shower Game

Learning from Failures at Home

Creating A Table

The State of Masculinity in Modern Culture

Sock Bunny - Using Mismatched Socks

Video Green Smoothie - Recipe #3