My goal? Feed my family for $2 per person, per day ($140 a week). See my right sidebar for links to each week!

Last week I asked for tilapia recipes - and got some great ones! I planned on making stuffed tilapia, but ran out of time. Then I thought of fried, but ran out of time. By the time I got dinner in the oven, I just put the fish, sliced onions, and dotted with butter. I even forgot to salt and pepper it. It still turned out pretty good.

Why did I run out of time? Someone set the grass around the bayou behind our house on fire. It ended up getting put out with our garden hose, handed over the fence to a policeman, before the fire department showed up.

And then every kid in the neighborhood showed up to find out what happened.

The bayou is where my kids catch their critters.

Then they put them in my mixing bowls.


I spent $98.01. Mostly due to procrastination - I put off going to the store. My "spending week" runs roughly Wednesday to Wednesday, with most of the shopping done over the weekend for the following week. So the shopping for Week 14, Apr. 5-11, took place between Apr. 1-7.

I got:
32 corn dogs, 4# tator tots, half gallon blueberry ice cream, 24 pack ice cream cones, 16 oz. minimarshmallows, 3 rotisserie chickens, 1 loaf whole wheat bread, 1 loaf french bread (no energy to make bread this week.)

84 oz. oatmeal, 18 oz. Kashi Go Lean cereal, 4 boxes whole wheat angel hair, 28 oz. spaghetti sauce, 26 oz. salsa, 64 oz grape jam, 10 oz. blackberry fruit spread, 34 oz. peanut butter, 2 cans pineapple chunks, 1 can mandarin oranges, 2 large jars unsweetened applesauce, 24 oz. raisins

7 doz. eggs, 1# reduced fat cream cheese, 1 qt. half and half

6 mangoes, 3# bananas, large jar of minced garlic, 4# frozen broccoli, 1# frozen green beans, 1# strawberries... some other stuff too but once again, receipt is missing. I'm not the most organized woman, ok?

We're eating:
Saturday, Apr 4 - menu changed, had birthday dinner for X.
corndogs, tator tots, green beans, fruit salad, and cupcakes.

Sunday, Apr. 5 - oatmeal
taco beans and rice w/cheese
corned beef, cabbage, potatoes

Monday, Apr. 6- Dutch baby (eggs are on sale!), orange wedges
spaghetti, apples
chicken, broccoli, french bread, strawberries (plans changed and we were running errands until 8 pm)

Tues, Apr. 7- oatmeal (I'm so predictable)
Homemade version of Spaghettios
White bean pasta with peppers and onions (frozen) More errands, since every place we went on Monday had just closed as we pulled into the parking lot. Yes, three times! So we went out to eat, which blew our entertainment budget for April.

Wed, Apr 8- pumpkin waffles or pancakes kids ate leftovers from restaurant. The kid meals were HUGE!
egg sandwiches, orange wedges
bow tie pasta primavera (just had the girls, the boys went to chess club with husband dear)

Thurs, Apr 9- oatmeal
peanut butter and jelly, cantaloupe
chicken fettucine alfredo, steamed broccoli, strawberry shortcake for dessert (husband dear surprised me!)

Fri, Apr 10- Good Friday -
toast, apples
macaroni and cheese w/peas and carrots, mangoes
burrito bowls (black beans, rice, guacamole, pico, cheese, etc. The kids liked it so much they wanted it again.)

Sat, Apr 11- Pancakes (maybe) or Dutch baby
leftovers
not planned yet due to grocery store procrastination

Look for egg salad sandwiches every day next week... actually, it's not that bad. My kids like hard boiled eggs!

One last peek into our family life:

Labels: cooking, Family Life, Food Stamp Challenge

Two years ago, Baby X was born on Good Friday. I was induced because I had diabetes and suddenly developed polyhydramnios.

Turns out it wasn't from my diabetes, but from Baby X himself. He had high blood pressure and polyuria. And man, did that kid pee.

He is such a goofy little sweetie! He doesn't talk much but still makes jokes.

He enjoyed his birthday meal, a nutritious plate of corn dogs, tator tots, and juice pouches.



The Big Wheel was a big hit.


Helping dad build it was fun!




I'm hoping the Doodle Pro will help keep the markers at bay. X is the sneakiest little marker fiend I ever saw. I don't even know where he finds them!

Of course, everyone helped him play with his gifts.


Cupcake time!


Not quite sure about this whole candle business.


Two year olds are busy, and must multitask.

Lick frosting.


Play with truck.



Lick frosting.



Play with truck.



Happy Birthday, X Man!

Labels: Family Life, X

...from the tree!

Michelle Malkin recently moved to the Denver area, and Obama's arrival (by jet - doesn't he care about global warming and reducing unnecessary trips?) was too much for her to resist.

So she held a protest and my mom showed up.


You can see where I got my "stand on the side of the road with a political sign" gene from!

Labels: Family Life, politics

Many of my family members served their country, and the cause of freedom, during World War II.

One was lost.

"Uncle Buddy", as he was known, was shot down by Nazis, taken prisoner, and killed by the enemy. His B-17 was lost during an air battle over Dresden, Germany on Valentine's Day, 1945. He was a ball turret gunner. The plane eventually crashed near the village of Hridelec in the Czech Republic, about 130 km from Prague. His grave is in Epinal, France

He died over 30 years before I was born, yet I know his story. He is still loved, remembered, missed.


Eternal rest grant him, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace, amen.

Labels: Family Life

***UPDATED***
Renee asked if it was always this neat and organized.

No.


Here's what the room looked like at 5 pm today. It would probably be worse, but I think the littles are coming down with a cold and they all took 2-3 hour naps today. Also, they played in the living room.


We usually do a "quick tidy" before lunch, but didn't today. The rooms do get picked up at night, usually. The playroom has one kid assigned as "monitor" and Miss V and Miss C are helpers. Another kid gets living room duty. Our chores rotate.

**** **** **** ****

We rent this house, and it's twice as big as our last one. I'm glad we're renting, because it costs a fortune to cool in the summer! Our next house will definitely be smaller.

One bonus to having so much space is that we have a playroom. We've always tried to keep as many toys as possible out of the kids' room, anyway, and set things out in a Montessori fashion even though I don't have any actual works out right now. Here's our play room from two houses ago.

The downside? The room that works best as a playroom is the front room. It's the very first thing you see when you open our front door. Well, kids live here, too. I hate the super designed rooms on TV and in magazines that completely erase the existence of all people under 4' tall.

View from the front door: (Yeah, I didn't vacuum before taking these pics. So ignore the crumbs on the floor. Kids live here!)



We have a lot of toys! We have toddler toys, preschool toys, early elementary toys, and older boy toys. We have a 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10 year old.

Our playroom is set up in "zones".

Dress up zone (there used to be a mirror where the US Map is, but Mr R broke it two weeks ago and we haven't gotten a new one yet.)

Pretending zone, sound zone.
Babies are in the big green bucket, baby clothes, bottles, and paraphenalia in the white basket, and doctor kit. Piano, toy phones, Tube Phone, cassette player that I don't think works anymore. Also on the floor: big bucket of wooden train tracks.



Animal play
Large plastic animals in the green bucket. In the plastic baskets, we have people (army men, mermaids, etc.), dinosaurs, and farm animals. The big white thing is a barn with stuffed farm animals for X that I got from Ikea.

My older boys play with the animals in an entirely different way from the preschoolers.


Littles shelf
Little People landscapes in the big green bucket, Little People in the small bucket (so they don't have to dump the whole thing to find a Little People (Little Person?) to play with. Baby X's Leap Frog tow truck, and miscellaneous Matchbox cars. Baby X's other toys.


Block shelf
Foam blocks, Lincoln Logs, wooden blocks, Marbleworks, and Bright Builders. Duplos in the nifty Duplo desk, another garage sale find.


Reading nook
Library books are in the blue tub; there's a white bucket for the kid books we own that I find all over the house. I found the ladybug pillows at Salvation Army for 50 cents each!


I like the bookcases, especially when you have older kids and younger kids. The big kids' stuff is on the upper shelves.

Games, puzzle, Bionicle pieces. The gray buckets on top hold Imaginext Pirate sets and baby toys that X has outgrown.

K'Nex, Legos, and the baby wipe box is for me to dump all of the extra Legos I find all over the house. My favorite label is the "weapons" box. It's so deliciously un-PC. Holds lightsabers and Nerf guns.


"Asking" toys with lots of pieces, like domino sets, Mr. Potato Head, pegboards, and lacing cards.


Along the stairs, I have a cabinet we use for "tea party" and food.


View from the reading nook.


And an Aquadoodle on the wall.



What do your kid spaces look like?

Labels: children, Family Life, homemaking, Montessori Mondays

Overheard at my house yesterday:

Miss E: Look, Mom, Baby X likes his upside down piggy back ride!

Me: Don't do that! You could drop him on his head!

Miss E: Yeah, he likes that! KA-THUNK.

Poor baby. And apparently he did like it because he laughed hysterically.


Overheard last week (while Miss E was taking a bath).

Me (ankle deep in water): Miss E! The floor is full of water!

Miss E: Oh, yeah. Miss C turned on the faucet.

Me: Well, why didn't you get out and turn the faucet off before it flooded the floor?

Miss E: I didn't turn it on. It's not my job.

Cruel mother that I am, I did insist that it is indeed her job to prevent wanton destruction of our home. And I made her get out of the tub and soak up all the water, too.

This sink is the bane of my existence. Why would they put a sink with no overflow hole in the hall bathroom near the kids' rooms?

Labels: C, children, E, Family Life, Mama Says

Baby X has just polished off his 4th serving of oatmeal. Full, 1 c. servings. And he drank his milk + his sister's. Where is he putting it?



For the last 6 months, Miss V has spent every waking moment playing "tea party" with her plastic food. She packs it into whatever bag or container is available and carts it all over the house.


FOCA is still looming. Leaving every pro-life argument aside, it's terribly impractical and will make health care for the poor more dangerous and less available, in my opinion. FOCA will require every hospital that receives federal funds or accepts Medicare, Medicaid, etc. to perform abortions and prescribe the morning after pill. But, most doctors are not trained abortionists. Should the government be dictating that an ER doc perform a procedure they are not experts at? In addition, there is the possibility of a hospital going private rather than accept federal money, leaving fewer health care options for the poor.

For more on FOCA, please click the button at the top of my blog.

Wednesday, our local paper ran a series called "Cooking in Hard Times". They don't have a clue. The two recipes printed called for sea bass, fresh goat cheese, and asiago. A helpful sidebar noted "Lobster Now Fits in Budget" with a recipe for lobster mac and cheese and involved a total of FIVE cups of cheese (for 8 oz. of noodles). The appetizer recipes in the back? Asparagus and prosciutto. Budget food? Really? Try some lentils and rice.


I hate Monitronics alarm system. Our house is set up for it, but as renters we don't have access and it basically just acts as a door chime. Miss C set it off last week - I called the company and was put on hold FOUR TIMES and transferred to a different department THREE TIMES while the klaxon went off in the background. Then they couldn't help me because I didn't have the password. We had to unscrew everything and clip the wires to get it to shut off. Still haven't heard from the landlord about it, either.

And... the alarm was going off for an hour and a half. You could hear it up the block. No one came over to check on things and the police never arrived to save us, either. Some alarm system. (To be fair, I think I am the only person on the block who is home during the day.)

I may have finally found a homeschool group! I haven't attended any meetings or activities, but the people seem nice and it is very active with lots of families. Even better, the leader attends my church, but many activities are held at the church nearest to me - we can walk there! We only have one car so this opens up a lot of possibilities. If I can find the energy to walk over there with every one! The last active homeschool group I was in was in Colorado, 3 years ago. I'm excited!

I have gestational diabetes (as usual) and my blood sugars are wonky (as usual). My fasting sugars (after evening snack) are often higher than my one hour post meal sugars. This is normal for me, but my new doctor is perplexed. I get more A1C tests for the rest of the pregnancy. Joy.

7 Quick Takes is hosted by Jen at Conversion Diary/

Labels: 7 Quick Takes, Family Life, Frugal

Probably, most likely, but not for certain...

I had an ultrasound last Friday, but my scanner is not liking the US film. The baby was turned backwards so I'll probably have another one in a few weeks to get a better look at the face and heart.

Due date is still June 11.

Everyone's having babies, now, though! First DadWithNoisyKids, then Kelly, and now Yofed and the Zimms at any time!


Pretty, free vintage clip art at AntiqueClipart.com

Labels: Family Life, Linky love

Baby X has what we call "Little Man Jammies". They're a horrific print with collar and buttons, and he loves them to death.


He's a weird little boy. He really cares about what he wears.




P.S. - I lied, CM. You can't have him!

Labels: Family Life, X

It's Christmas Eve. I must make my fudge! I've been putting it off because I can't use marshmallow creme.

I had three strikes against me before I even started:

• We couldn't find the candy thermometer. It's okay, I'll just use the soft ball candy test.

• It's raining. Can't help it. I'll use 1/2 c. corn syrup in place of sugar, in hopes of stabilizing the crystals. Even the driest day in Houston this week had 43% humidity.
  

• New, untried recipe. But got raves on Allrecipes.com and was reprinted at Home-Ec 101.

I don't let little things like life circumstances stop me. So off I went to make the fudge.

It didn't turn out.

But... somehow I made Tootsie Rolls in the process and they are really good! I broke a spoon stirring the taffy-ish "fudge". If a little chewy.

Then, at 4 pm we decided to attend 7 pm Mass as a family. So we're leaving in an hour and I must fly to shave my legs and find clothes for the masses. Too much information? Sorry.

Then I'll return home and finish repairing that last stocking.

And wrap the presents.

And make cranberry sauce.

And two pies.

And rolls. And maybe even kolaches. Then I'll cut up fresh fruit for breakfast- a Christmas tradition.

Late nights and unexpected plans are a daily part of my existence.

Merry Christmas!

Labels: cooking, Family Life, holidays

Baby X used sign language! He says "more" using signs now.

He has also discovered how to use the sink stopper. He has combined this knowledge with the ability to drag chairs in to the bathroom and turn on the faucet. My bathroom floor is very clean now.

The spin cycle on the washer went out. While it was full of sleeping bags, which are difficult to wring out with one person.

Went to husband dear's Christmas party, which was a catered buffet style holiday dinner. Oh, my goodness! When did I get so picky? The cranberry sauce was out of a can, the stuffing was from a box, and the dessert were those creme puff that you can buy frozen and thaw. The mashed potatoes were made with margarine, not butter, and the rolls came from a bag. I never would have noticed before, and I always just thought I didn't have a sensitive palate. I guess it turns out that I just ate so much fake food I couldn't taste real food! Once you have real cranberry relish there's no going back, even though I adored canned cranberry sauce growing up.

I'm going to return my Sam's Club membership. We've been members for years and years, but since moving to TX, they just don't have good deals. I go *maybe* every two months, and the only thing I really buy is butter and yeast. And butter went up, it's now $2.25 per pound at Sam's. I can match that with coupons and loss leaders.

I've been to four different Sam's in Houston, and NONE of them carry things that were staples for me to pick up at other stores - Healthy Harvest pasta, bread flour in bulk, cornstarch in bulk, olives, and ZipFizz drink powder. I saw 1 lb. bags of yeast at the grocery store for a nickel more than I pay at Sam's. Supposedly, you get a full refund of your membership price if you cancel. We'll see!

Labels: Family Life, Misc.

My poor husband is doomed to live with me forever (Bwah ha ha ha!)

I'm not sure he knew what he was getting into. The poor man comes home from work to adult conversation starved woman with ...eclectic interests.

Monday night's conversation...

Did you know Mike from Little People Big World died?

What am I looking up? Oh, it's GAO 93-90 on the effects of depleted uranium on Gulf War troops...(continue for 20 minutes).

Miss C went potty all day (another 15 minutes describing the adventures of two year olds and potties.)

Hey, remember when I put Equal on the ant mounds? (Several minutes recounting another blogger's adventures with aspartame and ants.)

Labels: Family Life

A rerun from 2006. Nope, nothing's changed!

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

For the next week, if you've been directed here by me because you just don't get our weirdness, please read the entire post.

This post is for all of those people out there who simply cannot believe we don't pay $20 for a cheap costume, then let our small children browbeat our neighbors into giving them candy, so they can gorge themselves and end up grounded for a week due to their poor behavior.

Our family does not celebrate Halloween. We usually celebrate All Saint's Day, a Catholic holiday that occurs on November 1. This year we'll just be doing a small celebration at home, as the local church doesn't have anything planned.

Why we don't celebrate Halloween:

1. We are not pagans. I know it sounds flippant, but Halloween did originate as a Gaelic pagan festival, and that's why All Saint's Day is on Nov. 1. The Church, in her wisdom, recognized that the culture was used to having a big celebration around that time of year, and decided to give the new Christians something good to actually celebrate. Originally called Samhain, the name Halloween, I'm sure you've heard, has derived from All Hallow's Eve - the night before All Hallow's day, aka All Saint's Day.

2. Sure, you say, but it's no longer a pagan holiday, but a secular American tradition. Well, no, it's not. No matter how you try to deny it, witches, ghosts, vampires, and being scared all pervade the Halloween celebration. Women's magazines post elaborate recipes to make candied witch's brooms (you've got to see this, BTW - Martha Stewart would be proud!) and ghost lollipops. Fake vampire teeth and blood are sold by the bagful to give to trick-or-treaters. You can buy chocolates in the shape of dismembered body parts. Superstitions are dragged out and celebrated, with black cats taking the center stage. Not only is superstition wrong and specifically forbidden by God, the underlying, subtle message is that some of God's creation is intrinsically bad or unlucky. (Poor cat. Too bad God didn't like you and made you black!) That a broken mirror rules your destiny. Adults can see past this (usually), but children are much more literal.

3. The atmosphere that pervades Halloween is not one of "family values". There is no denying that many feel freed by social constraints on this night, free to be daring, wild, different. In this sense, it is much like Mardi Gras. You can do things on Halloween that you would never do in real life, whether it is participate in Fear Factor type dares at a party or TPing the neighbor's tree.


4. The costumes are often inappropriate. Young girls dress in bras and pantaloons or strapless gowns to be Disney Princesses. French maids abound, frolicking in the street. Bratz dolls appear on your doorstep, complete with glittery lip gloss to compliment their diapers. The most basic costumes, whether they be fairies or pirates, are 'sexed' up for the girls. The boys generally appear as serial killers, rubber weapons dripping in blood, ghosts, zombies, ghouls. Or maybe they dress up like their favorite sports hero, the one who beats his wife or evades taxes. Children imitate and fantasize about being Christina Aguilera, witches, or psychotic individuals. Is this good character training?


For less than $40, you can dress your 6 yr. old like a working girl!

5. Halloween is not respectful of the dead. A corporal work of mercy is to bury the dead. Respect for the dead is very, very important in Catholic culture, as the body was once the temple of the Holy Spirit and often contained Christ himself in the form of the Eucharist. Mocking the dead has no place in Christianity, whether it be dancing skeletons, zombies, or fake dismembered body parts hanging from a car trunk. What are we teaching our children - that it's fun to make fun of corpses?

6. "Trick or Treat" is not a good thing for children to say. Sure, it seems harmless, but underneath, it is blackmail. Give me candy, or I'll do something you don't like. I don't think it is a good idea to tell our kids it's okay to speak to adults that way, even if it is only one day a year. (Remember, Honor thy Father and Mother? Means every day, all the time. Not 364 days a year with one day off.) Also, there is the additional problem of slightly older children actually performing tricks, egging mailboxes, tp-ing cars, ringing doorbells and running. Authorities, whether parental or official, often turn a blind eye to such harmless pranks on this night. The fact remains, though, that these are sinful activities and parents are responsible for helping their children avoid sin.

7. The candy. Gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins. Gorging on candy, fighting over MINE MINE MINE, selfishness, and self-entitlement abound on this night. The alternative is worse - parcel out one or two pieces until you run out around Christmastime, for that extra fun time at the dentist next year.

I have no problem with scarecrows, indian corn, harvest themes, or even jack-o-lanterns (provided they are carved with a cheerful grin to welcome guests and not mutilated with fangs and a 666 on the head). I have a problem with the evil atmosphere that pervades our culture in October.

Yes, my children are horribly deprived. So what.

Labels: Catholic, children, Family Life, holidays, Rants and Raves

Before we started homeschooling, I read books. I read blogs. I envisioned a peaceful life full of bookish children who would teach themselves (Robinson curriculum, anyone?) It would be serene and filled with a glow of happiness, love of learning, and developing spirituality.

God did not give me peaceful, bookish children. God gave me Dennis the Menace, to varying degrees.

Our homeschooling is influenced by Maria Montessori, who emphasized the dignity of the child. I'm an eclectic homeschooler, taking the best of many methods and leaving things that don't work for us behind. My shelves are filled with books and blackline masters and games that might be integrated, someday.

We are not unschoolers, but we are not traditional homeschoolers, either. I don't have a strict schedule, although we have a rhythm and flow to our days. I call school off completely sometimes - like when we have guests. Or the public schools are out and every kid in the neighborhood wants to stay at our house for the day.

Our school day begins late - 10:00 am, more or less. That's the goal, anyway. I have 4 students - two 3rd graders who are not twins, a 2nd grader, and a 1st grader. The 4 yo loves to plow through worksheets, the 2 yo and the baby wander in and out at will.

We gather and pray. We say the Apostle's Creed everyday, and then I have a book of devotions to St. Joseph that lists several psalms to pray through the week. The children have folders with their seatwork listed, but it can still be a challenge because I have one set of texts and the third graders must work together and cooperate. They cannot both do their spelling at the same time, so one must work on math or handwriting.

I give them a verse of the week, which they must write everyday after writing their spelling words. For the first month, I chose verses about joy and cheerfulness. This month, we're reviewing the Ten Commandments. We REALLY need to review them, if you know what I mean!

Previous verses included:

"A cheerful look brings joy to the heart."

"Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs."

"Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise."

If they must do copywork to practice their handwriting, it should at least be useful or encouraging.

I don't always do everything I would like to - detailed illustrations of the Epic of Gilgamesh, staking out a wild area for nature study throughout the year, and copying Ben Franklin's admonitions for great character have all been dropped. Better things have displaced my well-laid plans - better because they are what my children want and need to learn right now.

Hunting a local dirt dump and finding animal skeletons, observing (a little too closely) wasp nests, spiders, and ants, and experiments in imprinting and fossil creation have crowded out other plans.

I get discouraged. There are days when we end up with the bare minimum, and sometimes even the minimum drags on into the dinner hour. There are days when I feel I'm on Homeschool Throwdown: Cranky Kid Edition. Sometimes I have to fish Cuisenaire rods out of the baby's mouth and tell a brother a little too sharply that his math lesson is just going to have to wait and doesn't he have anything else productive to do?

We read our Bob books on the front lawn while the littles play. I ditched the official readers for books titled "The Dinosaur Hunter" and "Little Wolf Hunts." How can Dick and Jane compete with that? I allow StarWars for silent reading. Sometimes I forget to write the current date on the board.

Other times, I feel like I am in over my head, but I know I'll eventually get my feet under me for that particular circumstance. Right now, I'm wondering about my 10 year old third grader. I think he may have a visual processing delay. He often adds things when he reads. He'll say "this" for "his", "worker" for "work". He can do horizontal math problems but not the same problem stacked vertically. But I know how to find resources and how to advocate for him now. I'm not worried, just temporarily ruffled.

Homeschooling is not an exercise in perfection. It is an exercise in love.

Labels: education, Family Life, special education

I tell my kids that I see everything, but they never believe me.


How did Mom know Miss E ate all the apples and half the bag of Tootsie Rolls?

Yes, when I buy fruit I have to hide it, or else they'll gorge themselves the first day and we'll have nothing for the rest of the week.


Baby X has discovered the joys of turning the lights on and off.


Every time I turned around, he had dragged the chair over again and was flicking it on-off-on-off.


How did I know what he was up to? It's a mystery.

On another shenanigans note, it finally happened. Miss C ate an oleander flower. After calling poison control (FOUR different numbers, the one listed in the phone book and online were disconnected) they told me that she'd have to eat half a pound's worth before she had ill effects. Good to know!

Labels: C, children, E, Family Life, X

Mr P comes downstairs to announce that he's finished his shower. His hair is, indeed, wet. Still, I'm suspicious.

"Let me see your feet," I demand. He's spent all day running around the neighborhood barefoot, and all of the kids' feet are black.

He holds them out, and they are gray and spotty. "You're feet aren't clean!" I announce, as though it wasn't obvious.

"I washed them as best I could!" he protests.

"Well, you'll have to do it again. Go get the washcloth you used."

"Oh, I didn't use a washcloth." Or soap, I'd guess.

Is it possible I'm so bad at this homeschooling thing that my poor, unsocialized children don't even know how to bathe themselves? Or is it just a boy thing?

Labels: Family Life

As you may remember, I started a diet on Oct. 1. It actually was great! I lost three pound by Oct. 5, and although it was hard not eating whatever I wanted, I didn't starve either. I even got to eat ice cream.


I'm off the diet however.


We're having a baby!

Just in time, too. God is never outdone in His generosity!



BTW - I just wantonly stole that image from the web. Do you think I'd actually takea picture of something I peed on?

Labels: diet, Family Life

***This is a repost from Aug. 15, 2007***

"Thank goodness I don’t have a bad back."

Ahh, how those words, like a child who won’t stay in bed, would come back to haunt me.

Awakening with a lump between my shoulder blades, I attempt to lay perfectly still under the sheets, frantically combing the spotty memories of the previous day. Was it from carrying the fussy baby on the walking tour, grimly pushing an empty stroller with a not-so-free hand? Was it the groceries?

Unfamiliar noises surround me, the sighs and whispers of sleeping little girls. Ah, yes. The toddler has climbed into bed with mommy closely followed by the preschooler. They curled their chubby legs up to their chins, deftly and expertly wiggling between their parents. Their parents, who in turn had to curl their legs to their chins in order to make room for four people in the bed, a feat not easily accomplished once the downhill slide of adult physicality has become the avalanche called middle-age. I'm not really middle aged, yet, but each pregnancy counts as dog-years, so I am actually 97.

I take some ibuprofen and putter around the kitchen. By "putter", I actually mean simultaneously fixing some sort of sustenance for six different little tummies, unloading the dishwasher, and pondering aloud on the difference between frogs and toads for my sons. I realize it would be easier to let them fix their own breakfast, but I've spent too many mornings cleaning up after the "easier" part.

It's actually harder to wash the entire contents of the sugar bowl off of the toddler than it is to just sweeten the stuff myself, despite what efficiency experts would have you believe. It becomes even more difficult when you are unable to lift said child due to back problems. How does a stay at home mom apply for time off due to disability, anyway? Perhaps a call to the ACLU is in order.

Later, after too much coffee and not enough chocolate, I beg my husband to untie the knot hovering next to my spine, under my neck. He rubs, he kneads, I get no satisfaction.

Wait here, he whispers. I’ll be right back. We’ve been married long enough that I have no fantasies of a romantic surprise, of my man slipping over to a hiding place in order to reveal a bouquet of flowers or mended backdoor squeak, the things that make a woman giddy.

He returns with a rolling pin and orders me to lie face down on the ground. I fear he's been watching too many shows on the Military channel, and switch to HGTV while he attacks my spine with the enthusiasm of a pastry chef. Unfortunately, the human back is curved and contoured, not lending itself to a unilateral steamroller approach.

My vertebrae, in a stunning gesture of defiance, refuse to be flattened. I have a sudden insight into where my eldest son's personality may have come from - he does have rather too much spine, sometimes.

I mention that I do have a tart shaper that would be better suited to the task at hand, but husband dear determines that one try with a kitchen implement is enough. I am left to my own devices, which, while very useful for baking, are not going to be putting the chiropractor out of business any time soon.

I spy a wayward child, one of the lasses responsible for this mess in the first place. I wheedle and cajole her to put her cherubic piggie toes on my back. Her balance is spotty, but she gives it a go. The therapy ends abruptly with a topple and tears.

I lay on the carpet and ponder the status of our aging vacuum cleaner. I decide to keep it at Status: Baby it Along, to be shortly followed by Needs to Be Replaced. I wonder idly why there are Cheerios under the couch, when I only buy bran flakes. I am all too briefly caught up in a short but poignant advertisement on the television. Oh, that Pillsbury Doughboy! He's such a prankster!

I suddenly realize that Advil is truly a gift from above, as long as you give it a little while to kick in. And that I have, perhaps, taken too many. Springing to my feet with the energy of a Galapagos Tortoise, I get on with my day.

Thank goodness I'm not prone to headaches...

Labels: Family Life

I don't have much to say - yet.

Scratch that. I have lots to say, but I'm not confident I know what I'm talking about yet!

I'm mad that these big businesses take horribly bad risks to make a buck, and when their business model doesn't pan out, WE bail them out. Make no mistake - a government bailout is US. Was there any discussion? A vote by our representatives? Whose fiat declared American tax dollars would pay these debts?

I'm mad that several thousand gallons of gas were released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve on news that Ike might damage refining capacity. That's our little oil nest egg - and we blew it on the first bump in the road. And we'll have to import more oil to restock.

I'm more than a little ticked that the "news" magazines will find out what Lindsay Lohan and Matt Damon think about the candidates and broadcast them far and wide. Could they find anyone who knows less about the issues? It's pretty clear they are just broadcasting ad hominem attacks by proxy - letting the actors say what the Obama campaign and MSM can't. I wish they would have just found some people at the post office or the grocery store and asked them - an actual conversation, not a three second news blip. Yo! Campbell! I'm available for phone interviews!

And, I'm looking for bean recipes that don't have tomatoes as an ingredient. Tried and true tasty recipes. And trying to figure out how to bake without butter or eggs. Any help my readers can provide is much appreciated!

I have quite a stock of beans, all types, about 8 lbs. of cooked beef roast, carrots, onions, garlic, and potatoes. BIL can't eat tomaters, though, and all my recipes have red sauce!

So, I'll be back later.

Labels: cooking, Family Life, Misc., politics