All things Gale

What would you do to get out of debt?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 30 Oct 2015 00:05:00 +0000

Jason and I are still saddled with college debt. If I had a penny for every time we talked about strategies and magic fixes to get rid of our college debt, well, I wouldn't be talking about our college debt anymore!

We have no debt except for our college debt. We don't have car payments, credit cards or anything else weighing us down. Credit card debt causes a complete shut-down for me so I don't mess with it. But this college debt that we have carried with us for the entirety of our marriage is like a brick that sits on my chest daily. And then every time we bring it up to discuss it, it is as if a small child is jumping up and down on that brick.

And I am ready to do something radical to pay it down.

But first, here are a couple analogies to outline my financial attitude and relationship with money as context for this post:

If my financial outlook had a name, it would be Scrooge.
If my financial attitude was a car, it would be a 1982 Honda Accord.
My attitude toward money is just like my attitude toward candy: You can never have too much. But too much could kill you.
If money was planted in a garden, it would be like lettuce. Growing in abundance but always being plucked away and eaten by the rabbits and deer before you get a chance to grab it.
If I could sum up my attitude on debt in animal form, turtle for sure. He has his home on his back and conserves his energy by walking slow. Wicked smart.

Okay so those were a little dramatic. But I stand by them.

I have a finite attitude toward the acquisition of money. Once it is gone, it is gone forever. I have to consciously remind myself that there will be more. When I was 15, I started working. Since I lived at home, my expenses were covered. Food, gas, insurance, etc. I had to pay for any extras like clothes, eating out, movies, etc. But even then, my mom liked to spoil me and loved shopping. So I was pretty well covered.

I started working, collected paychecks, and dropped them in my bank account. After a couple years, I had $6,000 in a bank account and had no idea that it had grown that much! I forgot to spend it. And had a really hard time spending it on anything so it just continued to grow.

I decided to get an apartment, buy my own car, and took a 2-week trip to Cyprus, Greece. And even then, I had $2,000 leftover after all that.

Fast-forward to 2003 and I needed to make a change. My life was in shambles and my career had stalled out. I had spent the last 3 1/2 years slowly adding credits to my general studies degree at the local community college. It was now or never: Either college or the same old crap that was my life.

I chose college and decided that the debt was worth it. I met Jason 5 days after starting at Franciscan University and will always be grateful for that. And whenever I get really frustrated at the financial setback of college loan debt, I have to look back on my experience and give thanks. I had the most amazing college experience.

Grabbing a beer at Urs, the local bar in Gaming, Austria where students could wind down after classes

Somewhere in Italy waiting for our train

Taking a stroll down the Boardwalk in Barcelona, Spain

Karaoke Bowling Night (Men: A serenade of Total Eclipse of the Heart will win the woman every time.)

But the debt? Not so much. I walked away with a degree and $45,000 of debt. For TWO YEARS of school?? I was a junior when I entered. Add Jason's college debt to that, and we are a well-educated but perpetually hand-to-mouth couple.

I'm over it. We have been making payments toward our debt for almost 10 years. And still have many years left. But I'm ready to change that. I want to pay down the debt and BE DONE WITH IT!!!

Jason and I have learned a few valuable lessons about money along the way. I'll share those with you, but I know the only people who will nod along with me are the ones who have already lived these mistakes. These are mistakes most people can't truly understand until they have made them.

Pay down your debt first. Then move on with your life.
PMI is the devil. Don't buy a house if you can't afford to put 20% down or unless you have a very specific plan to get to 20% rapidly.
Kids are not expensive. Life can be if you let it. But kids bring joy, not burden to the family.
Unless you are planning to live in a house for more than 5 years, do not buy. Just rent. Selling a house costs a fortune.

The first year Jason and I were married, we worked a mile apart and had lunch out together every day. I was pregnant with Leo for most of that year so we really enjoyed the luxury of eating out and spending tons of quality time together every day. And we knew that kids would change our ability to enjoy time out. So we really let ourselves indulge and loved every minute of it. We always justified it that when we were in crazy years of parenting, this will not be something we look back on as a regret. This was money and time well-spent.

We. Were. Wrong.

Looking back, if we had put more of that money toward our college debt, we would have secured ourselves for a future of being able to afford a date night. Babysitters and dinner out are really expensive. Which is why we only go on 2 dates a year...whomp whomp. Life lesson learned.

So here we are. 4 kids, 5 houses and 3 states later. And we are not sure of anything. Except that the college debt has followed us everywhere we go. And it will stay with us for a while to come.

I started my home based business earlier this year to give us the means to be able to put our children in private Catholic school, and to be able to afford to pay for incidentals that come up since our entire paycheck is budgeted to the penny for essentials like rent, gas, food. Financial guru's always advise people to cut out their daily Starbucks, or eating out, or clothing purchases and they'll be debt free in no time. But you can't cut out what you don't spend! We don't eat out or purchase clothes. I just went to a hair salon for my first $35 haircut in 4 years. But only because I can't find a hair stylist out here who will trade me fresh eggs and homemade sourdough bread in exchange for a sweet new 'do.

Here is where we are at now:

We are in a very expensive rental. It is a 1200 square home in a beautiful subdivision. But the cost is 100 more than our monthly budget for our home. So we need to reduce our monthly payment so we can attack our debt.

We have purchased and sold two houses now. The cost to sell a house eats up your equity so we are not interested in purchasing a home for the "investment" anymore since we know that the appeal of the investment is not a good reason to buy a house. There is no security that your investment will pay off.

We are interested in a home with 4 insulated walls, a couple bedrooms and a kitchen. It needs to fit our family, and it needs to be a space affordable enough that we can afford to furnish it. So far, our homes have pushed our budget to the max and we have zero extra to buy a lamp or a nightstand.

Our luxury wishlist: gas-range cooktop and a fireplace.

Want to know how we think we can do it?

Link to house

A brand-new double-wide on a couple acres.

Fully-insulated walls identical to a "regular" home and flat ceilings. A home we could live in forever. But why do I struggle with this decision so much? I never knew anyone who lived in one. And I don't know if we will one day look back with regret. But 20+ years in a really nice double-wide sounds much better than 5 years in an old home that could require thousands in maintenance over the years. From a financial standpoint, a trailer is a terrible investment. But what if it could allow us to climb out of debt quickly? And it could offer us a really nice place to live long-term??

We have looked at homes and we cannot afford to purchase any of them. Scratch that. We CAN afford them. We can afford to finance them and will probably be approved in a heartbeat for a loan $100,000 higher than we budgeted.

But the reality is that these homes will all push us to the max on our budget and we will be sitting in the exact same position we were in when we bought our two other homes: hand-to-mouth with no cash left for savings. And the homes that are under budget are so horrifying they would even make a handyman cry.

So what is the next step for a family 6 that sets college debt reduction as their 3 year goal? What would you do to pay down debt? Could you live in a double-wide trailer?

Okay, so to make me feel better, lots of you will nod your heads and say, "Yes!! Of course Lisa! I'd totally do it. Especially if debt bothered me the way it bothers you!"

But really. Could you? What is the most radical change you have made to save money?

That time we brought 4 small kids to a bar party...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 13:50:00 +0000

Jason and I are still really new to this small town. We only know a small handful of people here. We haven't been invited to dinner (shocker!), we haven't been invited to anything really. But the interesting thing about moving to a small town is that everyone is super friendly, but they don't need new friends. So you have to work a lot harder to get to know people.

Add to the mix that it is super hard to get to know people when you have small humans running around your feet? Some of you are thinking, "No it's not!"And for my extroverted friends, it is a piece of cake to chat people up. But it really difficult for me. I'm a little socially awkward if I don't know people or if we don't have something in common that can drive the conversation forward. And conversations that can't go more than 2 minutes without interruption or distraction adds an extra really cute, but really loud hurdle.

Small kids + Introverted couple = A lot of nights in.

And that's okay with us. Jason and I like hanging out together!

It takes work to make new friends and I am ready and willing to make the effort as often as I can. This past week, I had just attended 2 class field trips where I was the only parent wrangling small children. I tried to meet a couple other parents but always was tugged away from the conversation by something or other. You know, like stopping toddler from running up to a predatory owl to give him a hug.

Or feeding hungry pigs and teaching the baby how to oink (important life skill that it is)

So when we were invited to a party here in town by a coworker of Jason (actually, the professor who told Jason about our small town which we fell in love with!) we were super pumped. We were told to bring the whole family and come out to their house for a fun fall party. And I was going to have another chance to meet some people!

The hosts have an 8 year old son who goes to school with the kids so this is going to be great. We will meet a bunch of people. Our kids can find some friends in town. I can scope out the other frazzled, multitasking, kickass moms of small kids and find a friend!

We dress the kids up a little for the party. It's all about the mind-games. A poorly behaved child who looks like he is presentable will be excused. "He's just tired" or "Oh poor thing, he's probably hungry." A sloppy child who is behaving poorly is a heathen. "That child was a mess! Did you see him!" You have to trick people into accepting your kids.

We arrive at the party, walk into a beautiful home in the woods, and look around for people. No one. We are told to check the bar downstairs...

*blink blink*

What? I shoot Jason a look of fear mixed with confusion.

We walk around the house to the newly renovated basement the hosts were so excited for everyone to see. It is a beautiful large basement with a full bar, a stage for a band, and adults. Lots of them. No one under 5 feet to be seen ANYWHERE.

But where is their son? Not here! It's a bar party...

Kill me.

The rest of the night was a bit of a blur. I drank a little wine. Cleaned up 400 spills on their newly installed flooring. Policed my children who ran up and down the newly carpeted stairs like they were wild apes on cocaine. Fed my children a few snacks from their fancy cheese tray table and refilled their water bottle a hundred times. Broke up 10 fights over the kettle corn dish. (Sorry about that - I hope no one else wanted any kettle corn?) And attempted 10 stunted conversations with really sweet adults. They really were the nicest group of people. So gracious to our tiny hoard of locusts.

My favorite conversation of the evening:

- Now, that little guy reminds me of my 5-year-old. He was crazy at that age too.

- Oh good, you survived! I like seeing people who make it through alive.

- They are so cute. *Kids thumping down stairs and shrieking*

- WHAT?

- OH! I JUST SAID THEY ARE SO CUTE!

- Oh thanks

- Do you know who that little girl with the curls belongs to?

- Oh she's mine too!

- WHAT? You have FOUR?!

At this point, one of the four required immediate assistance to get out of the way of 3 adults trying to get to the bottom of the stairs. I looked away from the conversation for 1 second, and when I looked back, the lady had already run away. I don't blame her. It was a bar party after all. Everyone had hired babysitters so they could enjoy their evening. I wanted to yell, "WE DIDN'T KNOW?!?!" but I thought that would just scare everyone. They didn't even notice my inner turmoil. And thought my kids were sweet and cute. And that I was a nice mom. But the struggle was real.

There was a fight over a large toy truck. We put Netflix on my phone and gave it to Roman. The phone died shortly after. The band started. We got the hell out of there.

Look, it was super nice to extend an invitation to a family with young children and make them feel welcome by inviting all of them to your party. This is the beginning of us getting to know people in town! Unless they run away from us if they ever see us in public again.

But had we known, we would not have brought our 4 small children to a bar party...

Our sincere apologies

Healthy Homemade Orange Smoothie (THM)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 17:29:00 +0000

So a quick check-in on my Trim Healthy Mama journey. You guys: I am LOVING it!! I am still a total of 9 lbs down because I took a month off of strict THM to take care of some other business. I started back on it this week at 80-100% and have been trying some of the recipes from their new book and love them so much. But I always come back to this one...

Smoothies are possibly one of my favorite things. And obviously other people like them or we wouldn't have a million Smoothie Kings everywhere right? Even thought it is starting to get cold outside,

I still drink smoothies year-round (and wear birkenstocks...with socks of course) I try to make myself something that is indulgent and healthy to stave off the snacky cravings especially if we are going to eat wings and fries (football season staple, amiright?!). I'll eat a couple and enjoy them, but with something of my own that is filling and delicious, I never feel like I am depriving myself.

And the ingredients are super simple staples that many Trim Healthy Mamas already have on hand!

Since I started Trim Healthy Mama, I have at least 1 smoothie a day. Usually they are fuel pull smoothies, but every now and then, I like to fuel up with this E (energizing) smoothie. It tastes like a creamy orange popsicle and is seriously so delicious, I die a little each time I sip. I will make an "E" meal JUST so I can whip up this smoothie on the side!! My E meal is usually a turkey and laughing cow sandwich on sprouted bread. It's a little boring, so this on the side makes it luxurious!

You know what makes this smoothie even more fun? My brand new Ninja blender!! My blender took a turn for the worse after 5 years of faithfully operating day in and day out. My blender and my coffeemaker are in use daily around here. And they just can't suck or I'll be replacing them quarterly. Hooray for no more ice cube chunks stuck in my straw!! I'm feeling super fancy with this monster of a blender. I'm movin' up!!

If you are looking for a quick and healthy snack, give this smoothie a try and let me know what you think! And please tell me your best kept THM secrets so I can make sure to eat healthy through the rest of football/holiday season!!

THM'd Orange Smoothie

Ingredients

1 medium orange

1 scoop pristine whey powder

1/4 tsp gluccie or xantham gum (optional)

2-3 tsp gentle sweet

1 cup Chobani Greek Yogurt (to make this THM E, pick fat free plain)

1 dash vanilla

1 dash probiotic (optional)

12 ice cubes

Instructions:

Peel the orange and drop the sections in the blender along with the whey powder, glucci or xantham, gentle sweet, Chobani yogurt and vanilla. Blend for 3-5 minutes. Add the ice cubes and blend until smooth.

ENJOY!!!

It makes a HUGE smoothie so you can share with everyone :)

Or not...

*this post contains affiliate links

Weekend Sleepovers and bedtime routines

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 14 Oct 2015 17:48:00 +0000

Ever since the kids started going to a real school, our bedtime routine has crawled its way to the top of the priority list. We used to put the kids to bed at an "aboutish" hour. It wasn't law. Merely a general suggestion. And it wasn't a big deal because our mornings were on our schedule (I really do miss some things about homeschooling). Now, with the amount of stimulation they have in a day, they absolutely need their beauty sleep and, more importantly, I'm just not into torturing teachers.

So our routine during the week starts with jammies, brushing teeth at 6:45 and by 7:00 we usually have the big kids settled so they can get to sleep by 7:30. The baby goes to sleep whenever she wants to because...

Leo, Elena and Roman all used to share a room. Leo and Elena had the bunk beds and Roman had his toddler bed. It was a great fit for the last year, but the downside was that Bridget was relegated to the pack-n-play for a year! She loved it, it didn't hurt her. And she ends up in my bed most nights anyway.

She sleeps anywhere:

But it really was time to move on. She's practically a grown-up!!

Wouldn't it be awesome if our favorite thing hung from our neck at all times so we could always have it within arms length?? Like chocolate. A glass of wine. Oooo, or a flask. Yes - get on that inventors!!

I told Jason that I wanted to have an option for guests when they come visit as opposed to getting another set of bunk-beds for the girls room. And omigosh did he DELIVER!!!

Look at what Jason made for me!!! Now we have a big bed for guests. I feel so grown up! Air beds no more for visitors! Unless you have a million kids... #askandyoushallreceive #ornaguntiltheydoit

A photo posted by Lisa (@lisagale_va) on Jul 28, 2015 at 6:36am PDT

He put it all together in 2 days and picked up a gallon of antique white paint. I gave it two good coats and was done the next morning. It turned out so beautiful. Our biggest problem was that we don't have the money to buy a plush, big full-size mattress.

Enter Amazon: This is the Signature Sleep 8-Inch Memory Foam Mattress. It came delivered to our door in a big box. It was vacuum wrapped and rolled up. We unrolled it and 2 days later, we had a fully-inflated mattress. Sweet huh?

So now our favorite new weekend routine is a sleepover in Elena's room. Personally, I don't think kids need their own room. We split them up so there is a boys' room and a girls' room. They get major life skills from learning how to share a space with a sibling. And we could never afford a 6 bedroom house so isn't that convenient ;)

We also decided to upgrade the bedding for the kids. Up until we had to stage the bedrooms to sell our old home, the kids were using our old college comforters. Long overdue my friends. The gift of "home decor" and "making things pretty" is so far removed from my skill-set that it is a bit of a joke among people who know me. I'm in on the joke though and do my part to perpetuate it! When our realtor came in to see our home ready to sell, she gave me a pity-smile and asked if I had any friends who liked to decorate. I was not surprised at all... I am "decorationally-challenged". New phrase

The Before (my handiwork)

The After: My friend came over to bail us out!!

(If you look closely, you'll see that I didn't even put the quilt on in the right direction. But I guess that just shows you how much I don't know about these things?!

I wanted to find something that was pretty for Elena's new bed though and stumbled on these funky and fun quilts on Amazon!

Greenland Quilt - Bohemian

I agonized over my decision on a quilt for entirely too long. But only because there are SO many other pretty ones!! My other three favorites were Nirvana, Clearwater, and Blooming Prairie. But since it was for Elena, I went with bold, colorful and funky!!

So in the end, we paid:

$179 for the mattress
$71 for the quilt set
$60 for the paint
$50 for the wood
Total: $360 - not too shabby!

And got a beautiful new bed. Now we just need all of you to come visit us!! I hear Tennessee is beautiful this time of year...*wink*

*This post contains affiliate links

Camping with kids (Also filed under "Parenting on Display")

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 16:41:00 +0000

No but seriously, camping with kids is the best thing since sliced bread.

I had to push aside my fears of "inconveniencing others" and parenting on display for the world to scrutinize and judge. But hey, I'm willing to be fodder for your sinful conversation if it means I get to do this all weekend!! (I know I look like I'm in pain. I'm not. The flash BLINDED me!!)

Jason and I have wanted to camp since before we got married. We had all the awesome stuff for camping on our wedding registry, but I guess when people saw that we didn't even have cutlery, a pot, or a vacuum, the camping stuff was less urgent. Looking back, it is better that we were gifted this stuff or we would still be washing and reusing plastic forks because we are both ~~money hoarders~~ so frugal.

Anyway, we were gifted a tent by a large family looking to upgrade. And FINALLY were able to plan ahead for camping. Jason's Christmas stash looked like an outdoors store threw up under our tree. And he was itching to get a chance to use it all. Backyard camping is fun, but you don't really need your propane stove and mini axe.

But you know where a mini axe comes in handy? In the wild!! NATURE!!!!

I think it was right about this time that an older couple pulled into the campsite next door to us. While they were scoping out the perfect location to put their tent, I jokingly said, "You should put it as far away from us as possible!"

HAHA. Right?

Our ever-so-tactful neighbor replied with, "Yeah, when we pulled in, I said to my husband, 'Oh no, a baby.'"

She was met with an icy cold stare and awkward silence. Because what do you even say to that? Once I recovered, I told her she didn't need to worry about the baby. It was the loud 3 year old that might drive them insane. Cue awkward laughter...

And I told Bridget to go wake them up bright and early each morning.

KIDDING!!!!

Aside from the stress of parenting my children in front of 200 strangers (it was packed!), our first camping weekend as a family was amazing. I'm antsy to go back. Without the rain ending our trip early next time! I sat outside reading, sipping coffee, watching my kids play, and talking to my husband. And when I got cold at night, I grabbed a couple kids and sandwiched myself in between them. What is better than that???

Okay so let's talk real quick about the awesome camping gear we had and what we wished we had!

We brought my beloved cast iron skillets for cooking over the fire, but there wasn't enough room over the fire for the entire meal, and it just got too smoky and hot. This outdoor kitchen is awesome for the extras! We put our Propane Stove on top and were able to make pancakes, sauteed veggies, and campfire coffee (which is all you really need, amiright?!).

Okay there were only a couple other things we had that were ESSENTIAL!

A basic kitchen utensil kit. This little kit has all the cooking essentials. Except garlic. Never leave the garlic behind!

God bless this portable fan.

We won't need it for fall or spring camping, but it was 95 all weekend and we would have been too uncomfortable to sleep without this fan!!

We actually don't need a ton of stuff when we go camping. Our kids were so well occupied all weekend with activities and meeting other campground friends that any other stuff we brought was ignored. Most of our activities centered around cooking.

Fact: Bacon cooked over a fire tastes better.

The kids spent a ton of time in the stream catching crawfish, reading books, canoeing, learning from the Park Rangers, hiking, and catching (and naming) crickets. It makes me wish we had gone camping SO much sooner!!

And the only thing that would have made this camping trip more perfect (aside from a large tarp so we didn't get rained out...newbie mistake):

A camping hammock! Or 3. We are going to try to buy at least one of these before we head out camping again in October. They were all OVER the campsite! I assumed they were too expensive for us, but they are actually affordable!

I have 1 month of prep time before we go camping again. What am I missing? What are your camping must-haves?

{this post contains Amazon affiliate links}

The 90s never looked so good

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 12:32:00 +0000

I am a woman of minimal fashion skills or sense. I wore overalls for about 10 years. Everywhere. I wore them to the bar, the park, 7-11, Walmart. I didn't wear them to church. That would just be indecent.

But I loved them so much I bought a pair of maternity overalls when I was pregnant with Leo. Is there anything more unattractive than a large pregnant woman in overalls? (Don't ever google the phrase most unattractive. Consider yourself warned.)

Okay so let's just say that at 34, overalls are out for good. Unless I lose so much weight that they look good on me again. Then I'm bringing them back. Oh you know what?! I'm going to make a sweet pair of overalls my weight loss present! You know, the present you splurge on when you finally reach your goal weight?? Here will be my inspiration board:

You know you want those overalls!!

Well, since the 90s obviously never went out of style (proof: they are still selling overalls), I am also rockin' some awesome Birkenstocks courtesy of the husband who knows me so well:

Just kidding!!!!

(I know a few of you cringed thinking I had gone back to my old ways...)

Here are my new sweet kicks:

I have to share them with you for a couple reasons.

First, they are adorable. (Look at all my mini hippies in their brown sandals!! May the 90s live on forever!!)

Second, I had no idea Birkenstocks went and created such comfortable shoes that were so cute!

I am in a group on Facebook where someone asked what everyone's favorite shoes for summer were. I have been living in various shades of $10 flip flops for the last 8 years so these women were a treasure trove of information with their recommendations. I told Jason that I wanted adult sandals (not flip flops) that were super girly and comfortable. And so Jason ordered these for my birthday.

I am just so excited that Birkenstocks are hip again. (Or did they just never really go out of style, hmmm?) I remember being talked into going on a date with a guy I did not connect well with. In order to dissuade him from asking me on a second date, when he arrived to pick me up I was making shrinky dinks and wearing baggy jeans, a man's wool sweater, and birkenstock's with huge woolly socks...he ended up asking me to marry him. (Not Jason) So maybe we don't give these shoes enough credit for the power they have held over the last couple decades??

Birkenstock Yara Thongs

I know they are summer shoes, but I'm already buying woolly socks so I can squeeze into these year-round. Bringing back the 90s one small step at a time!! I will always be #TeamBirkenstock.

I think I've proven my point.

{this post has Amazon.com afffiliate links!}

Getting Started with Trim Healthy Mama

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 27 Aug 2015 12:58:00 +0000

So you may have heard a little about Trim Healthy Mama, maybe you even googled it a little bit to learn about what it is an how to do it. But you never took the first step to give it try because it looked complicated or you just weren't in a place to start focusing on your own health. If you are anything like me you were confused by the "rules" and could probably research yourself into your grave before you ever get started on the plan. So let me try to help you out with a few tips!

When I was researching the best way to kick-start my weight loss, I just couldn't do another diet. I've done them ALL! Weight Watchers, NutriSystem, calorie counting, gluten-free, etc. I firmly believe that you should not have to cut out major food groups or healthy foods when you are trying to lose weight. I stand by my "Eat Butter, Lose Weight" post. Healthy fats have a firm place in my diet and I won't drop them. But I also wasn't able to drop pounds just by eating healthily after I had Bridget (I'm getting OLD!!!).

So, I finally decided to jump on the Trim Healthy Mama plan and I have had SUCH amazing success with it so far that I must encourage you to give it a try!!!! You can follow my weight loss on the left with the My Fitness Pal icon and see my progress since July 15th. I started working out and counting calories until I got very frustrated that the scale wasn't moving at all. On August 10th, I finally decided to give Trim Healthy Mama a chance on recommendation from a friend. Now this particular friend is extremely petite and had to quit a few weeks in because she can't get "too skinny"...

Credit

Yeah, I don't understand or relate to that issue at all. But, I do know that she lost the last few pounds easily. Then, Wardee of Gnowfglins (a personal foodie hero of mine) posted her success with THM and I decided it was time to give it a try. After all, I had lost and regained the same 8 pounds repeatedly this past year and was done with all that mess! I am currently down 8 pounds and the scale continues to move. I am eating healthy foods, tons of veggies and produce, tons of butter, eggs, avocados, and even my personal favorite: homemade sourdough bread! (I used to sell it at the farmers market!) If you are looking for a plan to actually lose weight using science you can understand and food you love, this is definitely the one to get behind.

Here is your Trim Healthy Mama Crash course:

Eat tons of protein.
Enjoy fats and carbs, just not together.
Eat meals with protein and fats.
Eat meals with protein and carbs.
Wait three hours before switching between a high carb and high fat meal.
Eat tasty food.
Eat everything in moderation but never go hungry.
Don't count calories.
Each meal is another chance to start over.

So, if you want to give it a try, here are the top 5 items you need to get started with Trim Healthy Mama!

1. The Trim Healthy Mama Plan Book

The book explains everything so well and highlights lots of different food combos and ideas along with a ton of go-to recipes that you will use daily! The sisters just came out with two new books:

Trim Healthy Mama Plan

Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook

2. A high quality pure protein powder

Trim Healthy Mama Protein Powder

This is a daily staple. You will use this powder in a daily smoothie or other food. Especially after you try some of the awesome and filling recipes! My favorite is this Fat Stripping Frappa and I make one every day! It's like a huge milkshake but packed with protein powder! (I always put my probiotic in as well.)

I use the Trim Healthy Mama protein powder for two reasons

It is affordable! You don't end up with a 1 gallon container that cost you a fortune.
It only has one ingredient: Whey (Milk) Protein Isolate Powder

3. Glucomannan Pure Powder

Glucomannan is Konjac Root Powder used to thicken various liquids!

I use a little Gluccomannan Powder in my daily "Fat Stripping Frappa" smoothie and also in my chocolate pudding (recipe found in the book). This can also be used to thicken soups or stews and sauces if you are on an "E" meal and can't use gobs of fat. I also make a strawberry vanilla topping thickened with a little glucomannan to put on pancakes, muffins, etc. So tasty!

4. Gentle Sweet

Gentle Sweet is amazing! It is a blend of xylitol, erythritol and stevia and perfectly sweetens all of my favorite dishes!

THM Gentle Sweet

Now let me clarify that I am not a fan of artificial sweeteners like splenda or anything with aspartame. And I would prefer that the only sweeteners in my home are pure maple syrup and raw honey, but the reality is that I cannot lose weight by regularly consuming these items. I look forward to going back to "normal" once I have reached my happy zone. Until then, I am SO excited to have found Gentle Sweet!! It is delicious and flavors all of my specialty foods like strawberry sauce, smoothies and skinny chocolate. Just make sure you don't eat a lot of it and use THM to dampen your sweet tooth. You will find that as you avoid sugar, you don't crave it anymore and the natural sugars in food begin to get stronger and more appealing. And you want to make sure your sweetener doesn't have any other ingredients than just the pure stevia/xylitol/ethyritol.

Skinny Chocolate for a little "pick-me-up"!

5. Cocoa Powder

I have never gone through so much cocoa powder in my life as I do with Trim Healthy Mama! But everything that I make with it is healthy and nourishing. It is important to get a high quality cocoa powder and a pound is a good starting point! This cocoa powder is from Frontier, one of our foodclub sources, and it is certified fair trade. And delicious!!

Frontier Fair Trade Cocoa Powder

And there you have it! These are 5 of the main items needed to begin Trim Healthy Mama.

If you are ready to jump in with both feet, here are a few other items that are key to add to your shopping list in addition to fresh produce and meats so you are fully prepared for Week 1! You should be able to find these in many stores like Aldi and Kroger. If not, you can get anything from Amazon!

Flax Seeds - where to find
Almond Flour - where to find
Coconut Oil - where to find
Chia Seeds - where to find
Rolled Oats - where to find
Unsweetened Almond Milk - where to find
Greek Yogurt
Cream Cheese
Baking Powder (make your own aluminum free blend!)
And TONS of eggs!!!

Now you are officially ready to begin. For inspiration, be sure to join us in the Trim Healthy Mama Facebook group. You can see tons of recipes, before/after photos and hear testimonials for how THM is working for women and men in every age group and every circumstance!! I will be posting my personal before and after photos as soon as the change is more noticeable. So far, I have lost 8 lbs and 8.5 inches and while this is a good start, but I have about 20 more to go!! I will be some information on what I typically eat soon so stay tuned.

{this post has affiliate links}

Dream vs. Reality

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 14:21:00 +0000

I try to do some sort of exercise daily. Whether it is a 30 minute walk through our neighborhood, a youtube video workout, or just some squats real quick to feel like I did something measurable.

Sometimes I have my own entourage joining me for my walk.

But my entourage pales in comparison to the turkey gang trolling our neighborhood for choice bugs. I spot this turkey crew on almost every walk I take. (They aren't as sinister as the skunk mob. You be sure to run the other way if you spot those punks....)

It's not that I don't appreciate my neighborhood walk. But there is a hill that is a straight vertical incline and I can't push two kids in a stroller up it. No way. So morning walks with the kids around our neighborhood are out. They can't even make it up this hill walking unless I pull them!!

There is a small lake about 1 mile away from us with the best sidewalk around it for walking and lots of wildlife for the kids to check out. I have had this dream of going around this lake for a walk since we moved here. The "plan" in my head is to go there for a walk before I get started on my workday and early enough that I won't back out after I'm tired and coming up with excuses. The best time seems to be right after I drop the kids off at the bus stop and before we get back to the house.

Doesn't that sound grand? Can't you see it now? I gently hug and kiss my two elder children and wave a swift goodbye as they jump onto their schoolbus. Then I make the short drive to the lake, put the two younger children in their pram and enjoy a leisurely and refreshing jaunt around the lake. Man that sounds good.

Reality Check: In the mornings, I am bit like Gru. I'm about as pleasant to be around, I have a similar body shape (potato, all the way) and I am usually barking orders.

There will be no laughing, talking, burping, farting, playing, or general frivolity until you have eaten and are fully dressed and ready for school!! Eat! Drink! Why aren't you wearing pants??

We wake up in plenty of time to accomplish all of this!

But the lolly-gagging.

And the storytelling.

And the mirror-face-making.

It adds a minute. Or twenty.

Then getting off to the bus stop, with or without clothes for the younger two. Rough.

The only person consistently ready for the day is Elena. She is always perky and ready to go. She is the highlight of my mornings. Along with my coffee.

Speaking of coffee, this walk around the lake wouldn't be possible unless I skip the coffee and drink it...later??? So many stumbling blocks in my way!!!

So, the happy little dream of taking a relaxing walk in the early morning around the peaceful lake will just have to wait. Until menopause.

For now I'll just come home and focus on the important things in life: Breakfast

Does the early morning routine for school-goers get any easier?? I pass the high school in the mornings and the frazzled mothers of teens speeding around me don't look any more relaxed than I am??

Does the egg count for nothing?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 22 Aug 2015 14:45:00 +0000

Bridget just moments after she was born and my sister's "congratulations" comment

One of the MAJOR bonuses to moving to Nashville is that I am much closer in proximity to my siblings and I have already had the chance to hang out with most of them in the short time we have been here. I keep hearing from my family that Bridget looks like my Granny Bridget! And like me! And I LET them get my hopes up. Because the reality is that it takes two to make a baby. Two contributors. How can one consistently cancel out the other. Eradicate any evidence that the other helped??

After all, look at this awesome photo of my dad and his family in 1950. You can clearly see how some children resemble Opa and some resemble Oma. One didn't cancel out the other completely. (My dad is front row, 2nd from the left with the trouble-makers' smirk)

Credit

We see what we want to see. But here is the reality (damn I'm poetic):

EXHIBIT A:

Here is a picture of Jason and his class in Kindergarten. If you know Leo in real life, you can spot Jason in .02 seconds. But for those of you who don't, scroll down.

This photo made my jaw drop. I know my oldest is handsome. And I know he looks like Jason. But WOW!! God basically did a quick copy and paste job with this one.

EXHIBIT B:

Elena has been a mini-me of Jason since day 1:

EXHIBIT C:

Well Roman looks just like Jason. I know that because when Roman ran off at the store and I started backtracking to find him, a store employee approached me with him and said,

"Are you with a man and 3 other kids?"

"Yes! And this one - thank you!"

"I saw your husband earlier and was actually looking for him because MAN do they look alike!"

And Jason's cousin (the little guy in red grabbing the antlers of a very dead deer).

And shoot, Roman even looks more like Kiefer Sutherland than he does me?!?!

EXHIBIT D:

And just for good measure I'll toss in a few of my own baby photos.

Making the decision to put the kids in "real" school

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 21 Aug 2015 13:55:00 +0000

Leo and Elena started school last week!!!

We were so fortunate to find a small school where three Dominican sisters, in addition to a crew of amazing teachers, party with the kids all day. After coming off 2 years of homeschooling, I am so happy to have found a school that focuses on a well-rounded child, not test scores. The school is affordable because they make purchases based on need instead of keeping up with the latest trends in other schools. We don't have smart boards in the classrooms but we do have TONS of happy teachers and happy children.

Making the decision to put them in school was tough for me. Jason was very excited about this school because he works at Aquinas College with the Dominican Sisters. I was much less excited because I had agonized over the decision to homeschool the kids for so many reasons and I wasn't sure that a brick and mortar school would help me to achieve the goals I had.

At the time that I was trying to launch my business earlier this year, I realized that I just couldn't do it. I could either homeschool or earn money. Not both. And we needed to make a hard decision about where to place our priorities. At the same time that I was worrying non-stop about this big decision and figuring out whether or not to push my business to the next level, I was stressing myself to the max and I was not reaching any decision that gave me even one ounce of peace.

I finally made a bargain with God that I would do whatever he wanted me to do, just give me a sign large enough for me to read. Because I'm just not smart enough to spot the subtle hints.

Within 2 hours (TWO HOURS Y'ALL!!) I received a business telephone call from the ideal client looking to hire me!!!

Credit

Needless to say, I didn't need a whole lot more prodding. I felt immediate peace with the decision to move to Nashville, put the kids in a FANTASTIC school, start all over in a new town (soooo not my favorite thing to do) and grow my business.

It is time to hand a couple of the kids over to the professionals, trust in God and move forward.

GBTN: Why I brush my teeth with oil

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 20 Aug 2015 13:18:00 +0000

Over the last few years, I have jumped even deeper in to natural and organic living. My journey has extended from food items to everyday products and the majority of these products are relatively unknown and, in my opinion, underused! I wanted to take some time on my blog to share some of the best items I have discovered through my foodclub and introduce them to you.

We'll call this series Getting Back to Nature!

OraWellness Organic Brushing Blend

When I started my foodclub back in 2012, one of our members immediately asked "When can we place a bulk order for OraWellness??" I had never heard of this company, nor had I heard of brushing your teeth with oil, but after quite a bit of research, I was sold!

Quick story: A foodclub member once brought her sister, who was visiting from California, to help us sort and I force fed her home-brewed kombucha which she thought was the worst thing that had ever happened to her. Worse than that, when they left, she told her sister how disappointed she was that everyone looked so "normal". She didn't see one person in Birkenstock's and she didn't see anyone with dreads!! We let her down...

See all the normal people?!

I have now been using this magical elixir for three years and it is about time I shared it with you all! The foodclub I left in Texas is still going strong with regular bulk orders but I'm going to have to start buying it on my own...unless I can find any locals in the Nashville area to go in on a bulk order with me - any takers?!

OraWellness is an oil based brushing blend with essential oils created to kill all the bad bugs in your mouth while at the same time supporting full mouth and dental health. It also leaves you with a "dentist-clean feeling" in your mouth every.single.time. I cannot go without it for even a day or my mouth starts to feel gritty and dirty.

From their website:

What makes the HealThy Mouth Blend so great?

Made with Organic ingredients so you know you are getting the highest quality.

Quickly kills the bacteria that cause gum disease while it freshens your breath.

Supports the healing of damaged gum tissue.

Increases saliva production which is highly beneficial to stop gum disease

Does not contain any nasty fillers, artificial colors, flavors, or other toxins.

Ingredients:

Organic and wildcrafted essentials oils of:

~ cinnamon
~ peppermint
~ spearmint
~ clove
~ myrrh
~ manuka

in a base of Organic almond oil

If you decide to jump in and try this stuff out, you really have to get one of their toothbrushes as well.

Bass Toothbrush-Adult Size Product Description

Notice the staggered spacing of the tufts. This unique spacing allows for greater cleaning potential along and under the gum line. Best if used with the Bass brushing technique. Brushes come in red, blue, purple and green. At this time we cannot offer a choice of color. This helps us keep our cost to you as low as possible.

BPA FREE :)

MADE IN USA

As a family, all 6 of us use them (even though the brushing blend is too "spicy" for the kids). The toothbrushes are specifically used in combination with the Bass Brushing Technique to significantly reduce bad bugs around your gumline and improve dental health. I haven't used a conventional toothbrush in years and can't imagine going back now!!

For more information on the toothbrushes and the Bass Brushing Technique, watch this:

Will and his wife Susan, the owners of OraWellness, are super quick to respond to any and all questions! So if you have any, let me know and, if I can't answer them, I'll go straight to the source to get them answered for you!!

So there you have it, one of my favorite all natural, organic items that I tell anyone and everyone about when they give me the chance. I have a couple more staple items to share with you in the next few weeks so stay tuned...

{this post has affiliate links}

What I have been up to!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 17 Aug 2015 16:53:00 +0000

Totally worth the
morning sickness!!!!

So everyone knows that shortly after we moved to Texas, I was unable to continue blogging. It was a mixture of lots of things, all good! I had such an AMAZING community in Tyler that I was mostly "talked out" by the end of the day. I also had lots of life changing moments:

A general displacement from moving across the country for the first time with three kids 3 and under. SO glad I never have to do that again!! ;)

A brand new addition to our family who is as cute as she is chubby.

The addition of homeschool for my oldest. That was actually kind of awesome. I miss it a lot but life started to pull me in a different direction!

My volunteer work: I volunteered for our farmer's market, ran a foodclub out of my house, and I volunteered for a couple other non-profits in town.

At the end of last year, Jason and I were scratching our heads trying to figure out how to remedy the problem of money. Our problem is that we didn't have any! The only solution was to get rid of our stupid student loan payment, which wasn't happening anytime soon. (Go ahead - ask me my opinion on college debt. I dare you.)

So, after realizing that I spent as much time volunteering as I could working a real job to earn real money instead of free veggies at the market (though I never tire of free food!!!) I started looking for work-from-home opportunities online using my past experience as a secretary (PC: administrative assistant, executive assistant). I found a ton of companies who contract out to the lowest bidder and I spent TWO MONTHS bidding on jobs with hourly rates in the single digits and still lost every one of them to some dude in Singapore who would do jobs for less than a dollar an hour.

I finally made the decision before Christmas to just go for it and start my own business!! I launched my website in the beginning of January and it has taken off since. I decided that I am of more value to my family contributing to our family income rather than saving money by homeschooling. I'm loving every minute of the work I do too. I have realized that I love doing the work that the average person can't stand!!

I am always looking for new clients so I want to make sure you all know what I can do and can help me spread the word! Here are a few examples of what I do and who I work with:

ANYONE!

Seriously, I work with anyone who needs any kind of help. I do document preparation, website design, bookkeeping, file organization, social media marketing, consulting for start-ups, proofreading and editing, etc. I have clients who range from engineers to farmers. I work with business who have staff or small-business owners who just work on their own. I work with writers, bloggers, overwhelmed moms, small-business start-ups, online storefronts and everything in between.

The way it works is that people purchase a package of hours and let me when they have a need. I take care of it, subtract that from their total hour package and then we keep going.

I'm not on your payroll
You don't pay for my health insurance
You only purchase and use what you need
No minimum or maximum of monthly/yearly work ever!

Just for fun, if you have anyone in mind who you think would benefit by working with a virtual assistant, send them my email address: lisa@virtualdeskassistant.com and this blogpost with a coupon for 25% their first 10 hour package! They will get a free consultation with me to chat about needs and to make sure I can help them out first.

Thank you everyone for helping me to reach out far and wide to expand my new company!!!

TMI on ALL the kids!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 08 Aug 2015 21:20:00 +0000

FOUR! I have four amazingly awesome and adorable angels to update you on! (See what I did there?)

I love 'em. This parenting gig got a little, shall we say, "dicey" for a while after the addition of #3. And then it all evened out after we welcomed #4. But I'm not going to lie - three kids was a tough transition for me. Now that I've set the bar so low, it rests comfortably on the core of the earth, everything is awesome.

Credit

Sorry about that. I know it will be ringing through your ears while you read the rest ;)

Onward to the updates!

Leo

Leo is 7 years old and entering the 1st grade at our local private Catholic elementary school next week! He just lost his two front teeth and spits on anyone he talks to. He thinks potty humor is The.Best. And he frequently blurts out "Awwwwwww! Bridget is SOOO CUTE!!!"

He is a protector, a rule-follower and very inquisitive. He always officially passes Bridget duty to me by yelling "I'm done taking care of Bridget Mom. You got her? You sure? Sure?"

He loves bats, camping, K-nex and Legos. So, he's pretty much the quintessential 7 year old boy.

Elena

Elena is 5 & 1/2 years old and cannot WAIT to go to Kindergarten! One of her favorite things is when I leave her places and she gets to be by herself or go home in someone else's car. I keep telling her that I'm going to miss her so much when she goes to school that I'm going to sneak in her backpack and hang out all day with her. And we'll stuff Bridget in her lunchbox so we can all be together. She is so nervous that I might actually do it that she's starting to get annoyed with me :D

She is so exuberant, lovable and excited about life that everything is the best ever, every day is the best day ever, and everyone she knows is her best friend ever.

She loves coloring, fashion design and cooking. And I sooo wish I had my 1980s fashion plates to hand down to her!!

Roman

Roman is 3 & 1/2 going on 85. He is like a grumpy and hilarious old man. He is easily everyone's favorite because...well...I don't know. He's just all character. I think he might be interested in keeping things organized and neat in the home. Which sucks for him because he has me as a mom!! He is like one big muscle and can't wait to wrap himself around me all day. He is the holder of the pacifier, the finder of ALL the things (seriously - don't point something out before him or he blows), the knower of all the things (you know nothing, just smile and nod at him) and my sister joked that being with him is like being under the tyrannical rule of a tiny dictator. But he's mostly just sweet and hilarious.

He is generous, loves his baby sister, and is obsessed with ice cream and firetrucks, and always has to know what time it is.

When we had to leave the firestation because the alarm went off, Roman insisted he had to get on the firetruck. I told him only firefighters could go. He pointed to his hat and said, "But I'm AM a firefighter!" *breakmyheart*

Bridget

My favorite.

She loves to dance. And she loves anyone who smiles at her. She screams until you give her what she wants and she always gets it. She has awesome hair.

Our little entertainer!!!

A video posted by Lisa (@lisagale_va) on Jun 8, 2015 at 12:03pm PDT

There you have it! Updates on all the kids. Now I can get to the normal blogging. Which won't be super frequent, but will hopefully pick up a little :) Now comment below so I can start adding your blogs to my list to read! I've been out of the loop for a while...

Is it time to resurrect the blog?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 13:06:00 +0000

PART 1:

I'm wondering if it is?!

We just moved across the country from Tyler, Texas, our home for the last 3 years, to Dickson, Tennessee!

I suppose that major life change is worth of a blog post or two. And we had a baby! I should update the header...

Updates:

Jason & I:

Jason was offered a job as the Director of the Catechist Formation Program at Aquinas College in Nashville. Although the job is an absolute dream job for him, we agonized over the decision to leave Tyler, Texas because of our awesome relationships and community there. We made a lot of life-long friends and are going to miss them SO much! (*sob...boo...* I miss you all!!!!!)

Just a few of the amazing friends I made!!

Me: I started my own business this past January! I am the Virtual Desk Assistant! I combined my experience as an administrative assistant for years in Corporate America with my experience running the foodclub for over 2 years in Texas and decided to stop giving away my services and start getting paid for them! It is going better than I could have imagined and I am gearing up to find and add a few more clients as soon school starts for the kids!

If you know of any small businesses who could use a little administrative help, website help or marketing help, send them my way!

I also just started attacking my health. I wasn't able to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight after Bridget was born last summer. I have tons of excuses but won't bore you with them. So after months of thinking about getting started, I finally bit the bullet and bought my first supply of Plexus Slim. I was finally able to kick the sugar habit by killing the candida overgrowth. I no longer have sugar or snack cravings and I'm able to control my eating daily to stay in a healthy calorie range for weight loss! I am working out, feeling great, losing weight and ready to shed the extra pounds! And now I'm starting with Trim Healthy Mama and I'm absolutely loving how it blends with traditional and whole foods eating. I even get to resurrect my sourdough starter :)))

But they were worth it!!!

(...stay tuned for the update on the kids in Part 2!!)

(This post contains affiliate links)

Updates Galore

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 04 May 2014 15:37:00 +0000

So what have we been up to??

The better question is what haven't we been up to?! Life is getting crazy around here but all in a good way. Spring is in high gear and we are taking advantage before the heat of a Texan summer kicks in.

I am so excited to be a volunteer for our local Farmer's Market again this year. I am trained by the City to distribute our nutritional assistance vouchers - this program is amazing because it keeps our local dollars right here by spending WIC money on produce from local farmers. The Farmer's Market situation in our city is a little rough. I try to do my part to promote and support our local farmers. The local food movement is strong here but unfortunately, the competition is fierce. Last year, a member of our market quit and started her own market to compete with ours. It breaks my heart because the farmers split between the markets and now there is a weird and unnatural division in town. And the farmers are too busy growing, cultivating and harvesting to worry about social media and promotion of their market! So let me brag on our market real quick.

Each farmer who sells at our market sells only what they grow on their land.

No one is allowed to re-sell produce that they purchase and it is strictly monitored by the farmers themselves. So if mother nature doesn't cooperate and they are left with no harvest the morning of the market - this is what their table looks like. This is the real risk of farming though!!!

Our market is farmer-run and operated. The farmers run the show and aim to serve the community. This is what local really is!!

It doesn't get more fresh than this. Have you ever had a strawberry that was all red throughout - absolutely NO white? These true red strawberries are the real deal.

And this year, I was able to participate as a "vendor" at the Market Bakery table because of the Texas Cottage Law! I spent all day Friday preparing and baking 8 loaves of sourdough bread to sell at the market. It is a bit of a process and I need all the help I can get. First step is grinding the wheat:

The finished product was pretty amazing. I use this recipe without the added yeast.

It took over 24 hours to finish but I sold out completely!!

I'm not cut out for farming (my idea of enjoying the outdoors is usually reading a book in the shade...) but I can bake the hell out of some bread! The market season will end early for me since the baby is due June 28th, but I'll be there every week until then!

Oh yeah - I'm still very pregnant with #4

And even though this is the most unflattering photo in the history of pregnant photos, it is the only one I have. The kids are giving me a "spa day" at home. Foot soak with epsom salts and herbs, hand massage, cardboard fan, and Roman promised not to jump on my belly one time while I was laying down (for the record, he lied). I'm 2 months away from having the baby and too busy to stay uncomfortable. Although I am pregnant in Texas and it is starting to get really hot so talk to me in a couple weeks!

So let's talk about the important updates:

These kids are amazing. I really am too lucky with them. We finished our homeschool year with Leo and now they spend hours each day playing together coming up with all sorts of games.

Do you see her up on her tip-toes? I'm not sure that her heels have ever touched the ground.

This third trimester has been SO different than the last two in the best way. The kids are older and require a lot less time and attention from me (unless you count the 3,938,462 fights I break up throughout the day). They play hard all day, they have chores, they clean up after themselves, they help me out when I get stuck on the couch and can't get up (Roman's only chore) and they are all so sweet that I am not stressed out at all about bringing another baby into the mix. She is lucky to have these three as older siblings :)

We were able to get some seeds and plants in the ground to try our luck at another Texan garden! Last year was a fail because of bad soil and lack of water. This year, we are getting serious!

Some of their favorite jobs are watering the garden and sprinkling diatomaceous earth all over. This stuff kills fire ants within a couple hours - I love it!! And it is edible so it can't hurt the kids or our property one bit.

We had an awesome Easter Sunday celebration. The kids were spoiled rotten but what better day to really have a celebration?!

We were supposed to participate in the post-Mass Easter Egg hunt at church, but as it turned out, if you stayed until the actual end of Mass, you missed the party. The Creaster Catholics scooped up all the eggs before my kids even exited the Church! So we redid an egg hunt at a party later in the day.

Lastly - wish me luck as I prepare for the first annual Foodclub picnic this evening!! I have been running the foodclub out of my house for over a year and we have yet to have a group party. So this is our first one and I'm a wee bit nervous we will forget something important...like the 3 huge chickens I have slow-roasting in the oven all day today?? Surely a pregnant woman won't forget the food right?

Lent with the littles

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 03 Mar 2014 21:28:00 +0000

I feel like every Lent for the last 31 years has been a bust. I always give something up. And I try to add some extra prayers in. But most of that is internal preparation. And I always feel like I could have done more.

Christmas, on the other hand, is over the top preparation on the exterior AND the interior. I think that having decorations and outward signs are a fantastic aid to keep us on the journey toward Easter. And now that I am a homeschooling mom, and Leo is getting so much older, it is up to me to observe the large plank lodged square in the center of my eye before I start throwing out advice to my children for Lenten practices. And I have lots of crafty things that I can do with the kids to help us all remember exactly what we are getting ready to celebrate!!

I am so excited to be waaaaay on top of the ball this lent. It took a little bit of planning, but no more than I do in a day for homeschool anyway. It was as easy as a quick google search "lent with kids". We are shooting big by trying lots of different things this Lent and anything that ends up a winner will be reinstated next year, and the losers will just phase out.

I'm a realist. I don't know if we'll get around to completing all of them this Lent.

They are small and messy. And exhausting.

But, I found so many good ideas on the Catholic Icing Lent Pinterest board that we are going to go ahead and add these to the Gale Family roundup for Lent 2014:

Our Lenten Calendars up on the wall:

Up top is my 40 Bags in 40 Days calendar. I know if I didn't print the checklist out, I wouldn't do it. This way, it stares me in the face while we do school every morning. Below is the Catholic Icing Printable Lenten Calendar. I just drew it onto a huge posterboard so the kids could color in each day as we travel through Lent!

I am really excited about this one. I have never taken the kids through the Stations of the Cross. But now that they are older, I think this is a great year to start. I found this fantastic idea for a Montessori Stations of the Cross box on Three Sided Wheel. She offers a free printable, so I had Jason print them on cardstock and I wrapped them with contact paper. Now I just have to find a box and the items to put inside!

Look at what a creative idea she came up with!! One item to represent each station. Hopefully this will be hands-on enough that the kids won't lose interest and get all wild and crazy in the middle of the church...????

Credit

And I thought this was a cute idea to help us out if they need ideas for sacrifices they can make during Lent. Our religion book through Kolbe Academy has a list of 20 sacrifices you can make during Lent. I copied each one onto a popsicle stick, and if the kids want to, they can pick one out of the bag.

Lastly, I purchased a couple cheap supplies:

so that on Ash Wednesday, instead of our regular morning of school we will be making these: A bunch of purple salt dough crosses to hang up in the classroom. I think the kids will have blast making them and they will make the room a bit more Lent focused.

Credit

and this:

Credit

A playdough crown of thorns with toothpicks: each time a child does something great (a sacrifice, being obedient, sharing, etc.), they get to pull a toothpick out of the crown. So simple and sweet!

The only other thing I did was make this webpage my homepage for Lent: http://catholiccuisine.blogspot.com/2012/02/recipes-for-lent-from-archives.html. That way, I can prepare in advance our meat-free dishes rather than scrambling on Friday afternoon after I have already thawed a pound of ground meat!

Now I have to quickly finish the bag of chocolate bars I picked up yesterday so I don't have to stare at them for 40 days...

And now I leave you with photos of our iced over East Texas backyard today!!

7 Quick Takes (#54)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 21 Feb 2014 20:21:00 +0000

It's either this or laundry...

1) Lots of you already saw this on my facebook page, but I'm so proud of him I have to post it here too!! Leo finished the phonics program at Christmas with only a few difficulties. We immediately jumped into the next part of the school year: McGuffey's Eclectic Primer. I was excited for this part, but a little nervous since I already knew that he might have a hard time with reading.

McGuffey's gave us a run for our money. For a little less than 2 weeks, we plugged away trying to read words and sound them out. Trying to put sentences together. Trying to cheer and encourage as the concept clicked. But Leo was soooo frustrated. He spent the last 3 days in tears and so I put the book away and polled Facebook for a solution. 90% of the responses were in favor of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, so I jumped on the bandwagon and bought it. After about 14 lessons, we picked up McGuffey's one more time to see if it was something we could add back in and Leo read the first couple pages with NO PROBLEMS!! No crying or frustration. And he was sooo proud of himself.

When we actually do arts and crafts, I take a million pictures. All 2 times. Of course, I have none of him reading!

I'm not proud of Leo THAT he can now start to read. I don't buy into the hype that children in Kindergarten have to learn how to read. (Jason and I are pretty darn articulate and we spent our half-days of Kindergarten painting pictures, singing songs, and trying not to have accidents in public.) I'm proud of the way he handled the stress of learning how to read. He was beating himself up pretty bad when the concept wasn't clicking. But he kept trying each day without giving up and I'm really happy that in the end, he emerged victorious. Seeing the look on his face when we revisited McGuffey's Primer and he crushed it, the source of his angst and frustration, was soooo worth the effort!!

This first year of homeschooling has been such a fun ride so far and I never imagined I would actual like it. I'm glad we started now so we can continue if we want! I think we will still take the decision year by year, but I am feeling more inclined to say homeschool forever after this last year!!

Although it does have its downsides...

2) I had a MUCH needed Mom's night out with our local Catholic Moms Group and we made these Lenten centerpieces.

It was only $6 and almost everything came from The Dollar Store! Except the tree branches and glue guns. Seriously - if you have a couple girlfriends, a few bottles of wine and some brownies, this is the perfect hangout activity to prep for Lent!

You need:

Pottery

Glue Guns

Rocks

Ribbon (for burial cloth)

Fake grass

Twine

Twigs for crosses

Or you could go all over-achiever on this project and use real grass: tutorial

Credit

3) February is birthday month for us. Roman's 2nd birthday was the 15th and Elena's is tomorrow!

2 years old!!

He helped make the cake :)

He is a pirate. And he means business

No seriously - do NOT mess with him.

Cousins came to play for the entire weekend. I LOVE having family close enough to drive over for a party!!

4) My 4 year old!!!!

This picture cracks me up. It looks completely normal until I noticed WHO she is staring at like this:

*heehee!!!*

5) Miracle of miracles!!! It snowed for 30 minutes in Texas!!!!!!

I think I heard 99% of you scoff from your northern homes. I recognize the silliness of this "news". But I refuse to post things about weather on Facebook so this is my only outlet. When you are all snowed in for weeks at a time, we are outside enjoying the weather. It all comes full-circle when the heat and humidity kills us in the summer, but I don't want to torture you all regularly by showing our shirt/shorts combos in February.

6) Hi. My name is Lisa. And I am a Legomaniac.

Leo got this huge Lego set and he isn't old enough yet to put all the pieces together by himself. I spent no less than SEVEN HOURS putting together the firehouse, a helicopter, airplane, ladder truck, rescue boat, rescue car and motorcycle.

And I loved every.minute. I can't believe I'm 32 and I have never played with legos before. But it was oddly cathartic to work on building each individual piece and see it through to the end. I feel like I should put a set on my wishlist for my birthday. I liked it THAT MUCH!

7) But something I like more than legos is dessert. I decided to make a Chocolate Eclair Cake completely from scratch. I thought finding a recipe to put this cake together would be relatively easy but I was SO WRONG! I searched the internet for over an hour to try to find the recipes I needed. This meant: no graham crackers, no "no-bake" cake, no instant packages of vanilla pudding, and no cool whip! I wanted the real thing.

I had to combine three recipes in order to make this bad boy. This eclair cake, these classic eclairs, and this whipped cream. For ease of making this in the future, I am going to list the directions and ingredients. If you get a wild hair and love boston creme donuts as much as I do - definitely make this!!!

Chocolate Eclair Cake completely from scratch

Chocolate Eclair Cake

Ingredients:

Pastry Puff:

(from here)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 cup water

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour

4 large eggs

Chocolate Filling:

(from here)

2 ounces semisweet chocolate (or chocolate chips)

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup confectioners' sugar

3 tablespoons hot water

Vanilla Custard Cream Filling:

(from here)

12 egg yolks

4 cups whole milk

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup flour

1 stick butter

Whipped Cream Topping:

(from here)

2 cups heavy cream

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp confectioners' sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 F.

For the Pastry:
1) In a large heavy saucepan, heat butter and water to boiling over medium-high heat. Add flour and reduce heat to low. Cook and stir until it forms a ball and pulls away from the pan.
2) Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg.
3) Spread in bottom and up the sides of an ungreased 9x13 inch pan.
4) Bake at 400 degrees F for 35 minutes. Cool completely.

For the Chocolate Filling:
1) Melt chocolate and butter in a pan on low heat stirring constantly until smooth.
2) Stir in vanilla.
3) Sift in the powdered sugar, a little at a time, stirring as you go. Dribble water in to the mixture until smooth and spreadable (you may or may not use all the water).
4) Spread over the cooled pastry.

For the Custard:

1) Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and flour together in a large bowl.

2) Bring milk to a boil. Slowly pour the milk into the egg yolk mixture, continuously whisking. This is called ‘tampering the yolks’.

3) Pour the mixture back into the pot and bring to a boil, continuously stirring and going along the bottom of the pot in zigzag motion with a rubber spatula, to prevent scorching. It WILL stick if you stop. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat.

4) Add the vanilla extract & butter. Allow the butter to melt and stir for it to incorporate.

5) Cover the custard with plastic wrap it touches the custard. To speed up the process you can transfer the custard into a jelly-roll pan, spread it thin, covering with plastic wrap will avoid skin formation. Refrigerate until ready to use.

For the whipped cream topping:

In a large bowl, whip cream until stiff peaks are just about to form. Beat in vanilla and sugar until peaks form. Make sure not to over-beat, cream will then become lumpy and butter-like.

Putting it all together:

When the puff pastry has cooled, spread the chocolate on the puff pastry. Spread the custard on top of that and top it with the whipped cream. Enjoy!!!

The reality of baby #4

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 20:23:00 +0000

First thing first: THIS BABY IS A GIRL!!!!!!! This so exciting for SO many reasons:

Jason and I convinced ourselves this was a boy since I was sick with the boys and had absolutely no morning sickness with Elena. This was SUCH a welcome surprise!

Shortly after Roman was born, Leo started talking about how the next baby had to be a girl and could not understand that you don't pick the gender. Nor did he understand that 3 months after a baby is born is NOT an appropriate time to start blabbering about the next pregnancy...

Now Leo's OCD will not go into overdrive. We have the proper order of boy, girl, boy, girl...and Leo declared happily, "Now I can marry to Elena and Roman can marry to the baby girl!" Ahhhh, all is right with the world...

I always wondered if Elena would be my only girl. But now, not only do I get to enjoy another girl, but Elena is going to have a sister!!!

Now, onto the reality of a fourth pregnancy since we got married less than 7 years ago:

*DISCLAIMER: Jason and I are ecstatic that I am pregnant. We are super excited to meet this baby and care for it forever. The kids are beyond thrilled that they get a new sister. And this baby has no idea how lucky she is to have three older siblings ready to spoil her and torture her for the rest of her life.

This post in no way reflects an attitude of apathy toward this new baby. It's just real life. Life with three other small kids and not enough hours in the day or mental energy to compare schedules before sonogram appointments are made or be creative with announcements.

How Jason found out I was pregnant:
An early morning conversation on Gmail chat:

Friday, October 18, 2013 9:27 AM

Lisa Gale

there?
Jason Gale

whats up
Lisa Gale

remember when I said a couple weeks ago that my cycle was all wonky?
Jason Gale

?!?!?!?!?!?!
Lisa Gale

yup...
Jason Gale

late...or pregnant???
Lisa Gale

pregnant
Jason Gale

whaaaaatttttT!
yeahhhhh!
i think?
sorry?
congratulations?
pick one!

How he found out the gender:

Jason promises me he will at least try to Skype for the birth...

And now: BRING ON THE PINK!!!!

Elena, Feb 2010

7 Quick Takes (#53)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 20:17:00 +0000

I am so flattered. Cari Donaldson, author of Pope Awesome, and blogger at www.clan-donaldson.com, has completely outdone herself in the bloat Lisa's ego and make her feel all warm and bubbly inside by featuring me on her hugely popular blog. Cari you are the sweetest. Thank you!! And now I am completely aware and feeling guilty for abandoning my blog for so many weeks. But using the few brain cells I have fighting for air inside my head, I have saved a few quotes from my offspring for a rainy day. Here are the the latest nuggets of wisdom:

Me: Leo, check this out! It's your team soccer photo!!

Leo: Wow. This is so cool. But I keep looking and looking and I can't find the camera??

Me: ???Huh???

Leo: Where is the camera? It's not attached?

Me: OH!! Leo, this is called a "print". We print the photo from the camera onto a piece of paper. Then you can hold the picture in your hands. It's magical.

Elena: Mom, I love kissing.

Me: Leo, check out your soccer trophy

Leo: Does this mean I won?!

Me: Not exactly. This is called a "participation trophy".

Leo: So....did I win or something?

Me: You're right. This is stupid.

Me: Roman, you are hurting me

Roman: I step on BABY!!!

Elena: The Redskins RULE and the Blueskins DROOL!!!

Leo: Mom, can I eat the seeds in the popcorn?

Me: No buddy. The kernels will hurt your teeth.

Leo: Will it make your teeth fall out?

Me: Yup.

Leo: Then do it! You can get money!

Homeschool for the win:

Me: Leo, Who created all the living things?

Leo: Uh...A chicken?

And please go visit Jen for more QT!! http://www.conversiondiary.com/

(Thank you Cari for the ego boost and encouragement to blog again!!!)

Ode to Pregnancy

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 15:06:00 +0000

Ode to Pregnancy*

Food make haste to fill my belly

Before I realize you are too smelly

My dry-heaving causes tears to fill my eyes

I cannot see what I am eating. It is always a surprise.

Advertisement convincing me smores are the solution

Husband on the go gathering pieces for our creation

Children ecstatic to try such a treat.

Mom runs to the bathroom. Beat by the sweet.

Dreams of sauteeing fresh veggies from the CSA

Healthy meals all around to nourish mom and bebee.

Yet still the only food fit for my home

That doesn't force a call to Ralph on the big white phone

Is a bagel so white and so bland

with a big slab of butter. Healthy be damned.

*Coffee table book will be available next Christmas.

Emerging from hibernation

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 16 Dec 2013 19:40:00 +0000

I have finally emerged from hibernation with a promise of a legitimate excuse. Promise!!

This is how we announced to our families a couple months ago

And then the puking started. And I retreated into a pair of comfy pajamas and firmly planted my butt on the couch. I didn't move for 2 months. Seriously.

Folks, it was baaaaaad this time around. I had such severe morning sickness I didn't think I would survive. I was able to keep most of the food down, but not all. And I had zero appetite so I wasn't really eating a whole lot. With my other three pregnancies, I never puked. I was able to eat and I was able to function minimally. This pregnancy completely knocked me out. It was so bad I even started to question my sanity in going through this again. If Jason hadn't picked up all the pieces I dropped, we would have been in major trouble. He cooked, cleaned and threw children out of the bathroom for me tirelessly. I would say I owe him, but we both caused this so we just call it even :)

Then about 4 days ago, the black cloud strung above shoulders departed, the sun started shining, and since we're in warm Texas - the birds even started chirping again!! I cooked 3 meals...in a ROW people!!!! I hadn't cooked for 2 months. I even had to call Jason to come home and slather peanut butter and jelly on a piece of bread for the kids.

It took many weeks for me to isolate the biggest issue: dairy. If I eat any dairy at all, it sends my body into revolt-mode. I gave it up cold turkey about 2 weeks ago and started to feel instant relief. Now I wonder if I had given it up earlier, if I would have been more functional?? Sugar is a major sickness trigger too. But it doesn't whoop me like dairy does.

On to happier things: This baby (our fourth?!?!?!) will arrive sometime in late June!! We are really excited and a little overwhelmed. Four kids.... Three kids didn't scare me at all. It was exciting. I'm much more nervous this time around. I just barely survived life with three littles!!

My energy has returned. My will to live has returned. I'm almost nice to my family again. Pregnancy is just not my best time. But I'm excited to have our first little Texan Gale and I think the rest of the pregnancy will be a cake-walk compared to the last couple weeks.

Fortunately for me, the kids proclaimed St. Nicholas Day "The BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!" so I'm off the hook for the next week :)

Halloween and Opening Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 18:52:00 +0000

I just finally retreated from behind the pages of one of the classics: To Kill a Mockingbird. I can't believe I had never read that book. Did you know it was not even about birds?! Had my teachers given me a teaser about what the book was about, I would have read it in high school!!! Soooo good.

We also spent the weekend getting spoiled by Granny and Papa while waiting for Jason to fill our freezer. It didn't take him long. 1 hour into hunting season, he shot 2 big deer!

I'm not really going to post pictures of them. I save the really gory photos to send as surprise emails to my siblings. If you disguise the email, they open it without knowing what picture is going to pop up!! But you can see them behind Elena :)

In order to get prime pickings for the beginning of deer season, we left on Halloween and drove the 6 hours. Our kids are too young to know it is Halloween. And they are homeschooled. They only know what we tell them. So we didn't say a thing about Halloween and the poor kids don't know how to read so they are clueless.

But Granny planned an awesome Halloween on the ranch. It is a huge 1300 acre property with a dirt path connecting the three houses on it. Granny asked Aunt Diane and Great-Granny to have a treat ready for the trick-or-treaters when they arrived!

(Even though they live on a huge ranch accessible only by a dirt road, Granny always has Halloween candy just in case!!)

After the fiasco last year of making the kids an awesome costume and then realizing they did not appreciate them nearly as much as they should have, now I just let them pick whatever they want to wear. (Also I actually have friends now. Last year we were brand-new to town and I was very very bored...) Except Roman. He's all mine.

Leo has been wearing this costume for 3.5 years

He has really...uh...changed...

Trick-or-Treating at Granny's was awesome. We drove to each of the houses. The kids were allowed to do whatever they wanted because we were with family. And with only 3 houses hit, we don't have the usual candy overload! Most normal parents just portion 2 candies a day per kid. Not this mom: 3 for me, 1 for you.

Next visit: It's my turn to shoot the deer!!!

7 Quick Takes (#52)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 25 Oct 2013 15:17:00 +0000

Linking up with Cari, Author of Pope Awesome and Other Stories, for this weeks 7 Takes!

--- 1 ---

My brand new squishy delicious niece was born yesterday morning!!! Lucy Ryann was born on her due date at 9:40 in the morning. I'm so happy for Nicole that she is no longer pregnant! And major kudos for the 100% natural delivery - no drugs...again (she did a drug-free delivery with the twins as well!!)

The twins are going to be all the entertainment this little girl can handle.

Elena got so excited she asked if she could go play with the baby. I told her the plane tickets cost too much money and she said, "No mom, look at all the money in your money jar!"

--- 2 ---

We did just visit our cousins a month ago. I put a few photos on Facebook, but here are some pics of our visit with family!

We gathered our family from 4 different states (Virginia, Maryland, South Carolina and Texas) for the 2nd anniversary of my mom's death, and we did exactly what she would have expected us to: We drank a toast to her!

Seriously - they are as tall as a human gets. It was ridiculous. And I felt claustrophobic all week.

My Goddaughter Audrey!!

Annual Lobster Feast - a Nova Scotian thing

Instead of finishing his summer reading, Gavin built them a fort and then hid from his parents in it with Elena

It was a good trip and now I'm ready to go home and visit again!

--- 3 ---

I am participating in another Jesse Tree Swap this year. Last year was a nightmare. I crocheted tiny little swords and anvils and it took WEEKS!! This year, I saw that the Stump and Sprout were still available and jumped on it. It took a whopping 2 hours!

While I read a book in front of the fire, Jason saws 2 pieces of firewood into tiny little circle ornaments. He drilled a hole through the top for the string, and made a small angled hole in the bottom (not all the way through) to hold the "sprout". I bought an ornate leaf thingy from Hobby Lobby and tore it apart to attach sprouts to the wood.

And seriously - that was IT!! It took a few more minutes to attach the string. But 2 hours max. I might get around to writing Isaiah 11:1-2 on the back as well.

Isaiah 11:1-2

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

The Peaceful Kingdom

11 A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
    and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
    the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
    the spirit of counsel and might,
    the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

Jesse Tree - Isaiah 11:1-2

--- 4 ---

Ever since I gave up Facebook, dinner has been on the table by 6 every night. It is magical. Last night we had my brand new favorite meal. We had it when we visited friends for dinner a couple weeks ago and now it is a Gale Household staple!

Creole Red Beans and Rice with Cunapes
(Of course I don't have one picture because it gets eaten so fast - I'll get photos tonight and add them!)

Ingredients:
1 cup dry red beans
1 1/2 cups rice
3 cups chicken broth
6 slices bacon
Creole Seasoning (from Allrecipes)0

Directions:
1) The day before, soak the beans in warm water on the counter overnight. The next morning, rinse the beans thoroughly and soak again. At least an hour before you want to eat, boil water and cook the beans for about an hour.
2) Pour the broth and rice (rinsed) in a pot and bring to a boil, put the cover on and allow steam to come out and cook for 20 minutes.
3) Bake the bacon in the oven at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Crumble.

Serve the red beans and rice with the creole seasoning poured on top and crumbled bacon. Serve with cuñapés.

Cuñapé

Ingredients:
8oz round of queso fresco grated
1 cup Yuca Harina (tapioca starch)
Salt to taste
~1/4 cup milk

Directions:
Stir ingredients together adding milk only as needed to get a dough (but not too wet). Form balls and push your finger in the bottom to create an indent (will help them not stick to the pan). Bake at 375 for 15-25 minutes. This depends completely on your oven but they should look like this when done:

Credit: Wiki - "Cheese Bun"

And go read The Origins of Cunape in the comments over here: http://www.boliviabella.com/cunape-cheese-bread-balls.html. I felt like I was in 5th grade all over again when I read it *snicker*

--- 5 ---

We only have one more soccer game before the end of the season!

This was from our last practice of the season last night. That was the first time Leo actively tried to engage with the ball. And the only...

He usually spends his time on the field being silly

Not paying attention

Or stuck in the imagination world of a 5 year old

He is certain this red jersey makes him an official Power Ranger.

One time during a game, the ball hit his foot and went straight to his teammate who kicked it in the goal. We whooped and hollered like he won the Olympics hoping that he would finally understand the concept.

Maybe he can get a Lego scholarship???

--- 6 ---

Awwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!

--- 7 ---

Here is what the other children do during Leo's practices/games:

Hey - I'm just doing my part to encourage other families to have lots of children...

For more Quick Takes, visit Cari!

WWRW - C.S. Lewis

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 16:06:00 +0000

Okay - so the kids are reading a whole lotta nuthin. I picked up 10 awesome books from the library and we read them the first two days we got home and then they lost interest. I am really looking forward to reading next to my children instead of reading everything to them!

But let's just skip to the awesome stuff I have been reading. We'll start with the one that has taken me the longest but is the most awesome:

The Miracle Detective by Randall Sullivan

I started this one on recommendation by a friend after I told him about the charismatic community (aka cult) I grew up in. This book was amazing. But you won't believe me that I think it is amazing if you hear how long it has taken me to read it...since January! Walking past this book every day for 10 months is the reason why I gave up Facebook!!

I am at the end and loved every bit of this book. Especially after visiting Lourdes, Fatima and Medjugorje in college. And the way the author writes the book from the perspective of a doubting Thomas makes it so much more interesting. It is also really interesting to learn more of the Bosnian war after having driven through the areas with evidence of bombings still. I plan on finishing this one right after:

A Severe Mercy

This is a true love story about a self-professed "Pagan" couple in the 40s and 50s who pledge to live a life out at sea on a sailboat free from time, worry, obligation and responsible only for keeping their love intact. Before they shove off for sea, they spend a couple years at Oxford studying, during the same period that C.S. Lewis is a professor there.

It is finally cold enough for a fire in Texas!!!

I am on the last 20 pages and will finish this one in less than a week. Just put down the 50 Shades of Grey and read a REAL love story!!! Scratch that - never pick up 50 Shades of Grey to begin with...

And lastly - the book I finished right after I swore off Facebook (and with the most perfect timing),

Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

All I have to say about this one is that it came at exactly the right time. If I wasn't sure I wanted to quit Facebook before I read it, I sure as hell am now!!! I think this will be a good book to re-read each Lent. It is quick and really interesting.

I blame the last two books on the dark and sad post from yesterday. It is impossible to read books that are this deep and introspective without getting all weird!! But hopefully this post is a little lighter :)

Now head over to Jessica's blog, Housewifepice to see what everyone else is getting into. Jessica's book looks really interesting!!!

A special birthday coming up next

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 19:59:00 +0000

Warning: this is not a funny post. But the pictures at the end are!!

Whenever October hits, I am always reminded of someone I never had the chance to meet:

My brother Kevin

He was only 9 years old when he was hit by a truck and killed. It was so sudden and tragic that I'm not really sure how my mom survived it. Somehow she did.

A couple months ago, my Uncle sent me this adorable photo of Kevin as a baby. He would have turned 43 years old next week.

(I think his chin and cheeks resemble Roman just a little!)

There is something very different about a family that has experienced a loss like this. I think that a lot of people spend time worrying about life and death, especially parents. But a family that can put a face and a name to tragedy, and a time, and an age...well, it is just different. Whenever I meet a woman who tells me about all her grown children, I am always surprised to hear that they are all alive, and I am less surprised to hear if she has lost a child. It should probably be the other way around??

My oldest brother Steve was 12 years old when Kevin died and my sister was 6. I just can't imagine. Whenever I see Roman and Leo playing together, I immediately think of Steve and Kevin. The connection I draw isn't because I worry that something will happen to one of them. I just think about the relationship my brothers must have had and how long they had spent every single day of their lives together. I think of my own children and husband in a much more temporary way, always surprised that I get another day with them. Especially in October around Kevin's birthday.

The reason I started thinking about it so heavily this month was because the connection between Leo and Roman is so strong right now. Now that Roman is so verbal, I know exactly how many times a day he thinks about Leo. The first person Roman asks for when he wakes up is "Wo". And when he goes to bed at night, he always asks where "Wo" is. And they are only 5 years old and 20 month old!

The other day I was working in the den with the door shut and Roman was trying to get in there to see me. When he asked Jason, he just told him to leave Momma alone and go play. So Roman went into the playroom and asked Leo, "Momma? Momma?" And Leo said, "Okay little buddy! C'mon!" and the next thing I knew the door to the den flew open.

Leo takes his role as big brother very seriously. He even attached a baby doll stroller to the back of his bike so Roman can ride around the house.

I don't mean for this to be a dark or creepy post (even though it it turning into one...especially with all the creepy Nursery Rhymes my kids are singing right now). It is just something that I think about all the time. And I don't really think about it with Elena - mostly just Leo and Roman. And even though these children don't belong to me, they belong to God, I really hope He doesn't have any plans to take any of them early. I think I'll probably view their 10th birthdays as major milestones.

I am fairly sure that this is a result of Kevin's death (a person I never even met!), but I wonder if other people see their kids the same way because we are all so worried about something happening to our children??