Holes in my Shiny Veneer

Just Moms = Encouragement from the Trenches of Parenthood

noreply@blogger.com (Diana (Ladybug Limited)) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 23:52:00 +0000

I love Christian parenting books, but all too often I find myself discouraged by how perfect the authors' lives seem, as if they've set a bar I can only hope to reach. Just Moms is not that type, thankfully, but is full of fresh voices of encouragement from moms who freely admit that they don't have all the answers. Editors Melanie Springer Mock and Rebekah D. Schneiter have compiled a collection of stories written by everyday moms teaching their children the values of truth, simplicity, equality, love, and peace in the everyday moments. The sections are as follows:

1. "All One in Christ Jesus" -- I loved Jennifer Rouse's story "Precious in God's Sight" about discussing race with her daughters.

2. "Knowing the True Light" -- Paula J. Hampton's "To Tell the Truth" about her first grader's lie struck a chord with me as I too have struggled with holding my young children to a standard of honesty that others would rather laugh off.

3. "Blessed are the Peacemakers" -- this is the section where the Mennonite teaching of pacifism is illustrated. Regardless of your political views, there is still much food for thought here.

4. "Lilies of the Field" -- my favorite section as the battle against materialism is constant! "The Economics of Bouncy Balls" by Mock and "Buying the Whole Farm" by Marta Oti Sears both spoke to me in the daily struggle against the "I wants", but I also loved Jessica Kantola's "Choose to Be" on choosing happiness.

5. "In the World" -- "Starbucks-Colored Glasses" by Lisa Graham McMinn was an inspiring essay on treating the invisible people of our society with dignity and this whole section spoke to being in the world but not like the world, whatever the circumstance.

I called this review "Encouragement from the Trenches of Parenthood" rather than "...Motherhood" because as other reviewers have said, this is a book to be read by all parents, not just moms. Definitely a worthy addition to any parent's library in spite of the title!

cross-posted on Amazon and Goodreads

Custom Eye Chart = Perfect Valentine for my Other Half

noreply@blogger.com (Diana (Ladybug Limited)) — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 19:15:00 +0000

So I found this site that lets you customize an eye chart with your own letters, or in my case, sentence. Sticking with the eye chart theme, I decided the perfect valentine for Other Half would be, "I hope you can see that I love you so." Once I typed in my words, I right-clicked to save the image as a JPG file. A little cardstock and a binder clip and I had the perfect valentine hung in our entry when he came home.

Hard Lotion: You Gotta Try This!

noreply@blogger.com (Diana (Ladybug Limited)) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 18:19:00 +0000

Sometime last summer in my bloggy reading, I came across an enthusiastic recommendation for MadeOn Hard Lotion Bars. I had never heard of hard lotion before, but I was intrigued by the all-natural ingredients and the enthusiastic testimonials. In checking out the site, I was amazed to see that the owner, Renee Harris, even posted a video to teach you how to make your own lotion bars. She believes so strongly in her product that she's willing to teach you how to make it yourself for free!

You would not believe how simple it is to make these lotion bars, as you only need 3 ingredients: beeswax, coconut oil, and shea butter. I melted the 3 together and poured it into an Altoid tin to set up. The first time I had to put it in the freezer to pop the lotion bar out of the tin, but it's so convenient to carry with me in my recycled tin. And we use this stuff for everything: chapped lips, dry skin, my kiddos' itchy toes...

With the winter weather, I've been telling so many friends about hard lotion as this has been the one thing that works for our family for both winter chapped lips and dry itchy skin. My friend Brenda was frustrated with her baby's itchy, rashy skin, so I packed up my crafting crockpot and 3 ingredients and headed over to her house to make a batch. That weekend, she let me know that her baby's skin was 90% better already!

Brenda and I made enough lotion that day that we decided to make samples for our MOPS group. I found this Wilton silicone mold at JoAnn's last month and knew it would be perfect for trial-size lotion bars:At first I packaged them in little baggies, but then I found these little plastic Valentine treat boxes at the Dollar Store and was so thrilled that the lotion bars fit:This hard lotion has become the only lotion our family uses and I can't recommend it highly enough. Renee has even put up a DIY kit for sale this week in case you'd like to get all your ingredients in one easy package. And no, she's not paying me for this post either -- we just love our hard lotion that much!

Update 3/28/11: Today Stephanie over at Keeper of the Home reviewed the DIY hard lotion kit. She gives a handy tutorial on making the lotion bars and lip balms and even calculates your savings!

60 pounds of strawberries...

noreply@blogger.com (Diana (Ladybug Limited)) — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 03:53:00 +0000

So, yes, I know I just wrote about strawberries, but 'tis the season! Last year I ordered the 30-pound pail of sliced strawberries from the local Kiwanis group and they were so good (and convenient!) that this year I doubled my order. We use them for everything: freezer jam, smoothies, strawberry lemonade, stirring into plain yogurt, and topping waffles and ice cream. And in case you're curious, 60 pounds of strawberries fills 29 quart freezer bags. Yum! And I have no doubts that we'll finish them before this time next year...

If you have any favorite uses for frozen berries I left out, I'd love to hear them in the comments!

Other Half, the Artist

noreply@blogger.com (Diana (Ladybug Limited)) — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 17:05:00 +0000

My posts mentioning Other Half lately have been about him rescuing me in the kitchen or teaching me to use power tools, but he's actually a man of many talents. To celebrate him this Father's Day, I thought I'd introduce you to Other Half, the Artist.We celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary this month, and this year, I was truly surprised by his gift. He decided to make me a water feature for our room -- before its installation I was falling asleep to fake waterfall sounds every night. He designed and crafted every inch of this fountain and I was left speechless when he presented it to me. Here's a close-up of the base where he stamped our wedding verse, Song of Solomon 8:6. Pretty good for his first stamping project, don't you think? We also had a dear friend graduate from high school this month, so Other Half decided to make him a piece of artwork he could take with him to college. This was not a piece of slate that he cut a cross shape through down the middle, but rather, Other Half saw how he could make a Christ figure out of various slate pieces and put them together like a jigsaw puzzle. With the nails and the distressed wood, it makes a cross like no other. And here's a close-up of the silver dog tag where he stamped My Rock & My Salvation. Again, I think it's spectacular, and not just because I've been his wife for 15 years!

Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Diana (Ladybug Limited)) — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 04:34:00 +0000

Strawberry season is finally in full swing in western Oregon, and so as the kiddos and I picked 10 pounds this morning, I thought it was time I share our new favorite recipe for fresh strawberry cupcakes. We just discovered these at Easter when Trader Joe's had some particularly good strawberries in, and they were so good that Mugger requested them for his birthday this week. So the recipe is found here at Just Jenn Recipes -- you'll have to click through for the link. We (and by "we" I mean Other Half as he is the Chief Cupcake Baker in this house) pretty much follow the recipe as it's written until the frosting part. We haven't tried her suggestion for chocolate frosting -- Other Half made strawberry frosting for Easter and white frosting with a strawberry garnish for Mugger's birthday.
The best thing about this recipe is that the unfrosted cupcakes freeze well, so you can double or triple the batch if you need to use up lots of berries. And if you leave the frosting off, you can call them muffins and serve them for breakfast, too!
Can't wait to get my sliced strawberries this week -- this year we're getting 2 30-pound pails instead of just one!

Making Pasta Beads with Food Coloring

noreply@blogger.com (Diana (Ladybug Limited)) — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:20:00 +0000

School is out for Bug tomorrow, but she's getting a jump on her summer art plans today. She was making a picture with glued macaroni when I picked her up from Pre-K yesterday, so I asked her if she'd like to make something with colored pasta. As soon as I showed her the colored pasta necklaces on Make and Takes, she was ready to go! This is such a simple craft as you only need tubed pasta, food coloring, and rubbing alcohol. Here's how she did it:
Since Bug wanted 6 different colors of pasta beads, we put our pasta into 6 different sealable sandwich baggies. Each baggie then got 4 drops of food coloring (orange = 1 drop of red + 3 drops of yellow and purple = 3 drops of red + 1 or 2 drops of blue) and 1 tablespoon of rubbing alcohol. We zipped the baggies shut and then tumbled them gently to coat all the pasta pieces.
Bug spread out her baggies and gave them a quality control check to make sure they were all saturated with color.
Then we spread them out on a pan to dry. Instead of letting the pasta dry on paper towels, I put tissue paper underneath, remembering a post on tie-dyed tissue paper from Parent Hacks. Bug's brother turns 7 tomorrow and she's hoping it will all be dry in time for wrapping his present.
Make and Takes puts it out in the sun to dry faster, but unfortunately our Oregon skies are a bit rainy again today. Bug is thinking hopeful thoughts at least. We don't have it spread out real thin, so it might not be dry by tomorrow, but we'll post a creation when she gets to craft with her new beads.

Coconut Oil Granola: The Best Ever!

noreply@blogger.com (Diana (Ladybug Limited)) — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 13:59:00 +0000

Sometimes I have the best of intentions, but then... well, you know how it goes. Such was the case with my purchase of Salad People by Mollie Katzen nearly 3 years ago -- I wanted to be that mom who cooked with her preschoolers so that they'd develop an enthusiasm for cooking and healthy eating at a young age. Well, the kiddos finish 1st grade and Pre-K this week, and here I am opening up Salad People with her for the first time. This awesome book would probably still be sitting on the shelf if not for the urging of my friend, Anna, who told me we had to try the granola recipe. A month later, we did, and wow!

We didn't stray too far from the recipe, being that I'm a Kitchen Catastrophe and all. I did skip the nonstick spray for the baking tray since I have one of those nifty silicone baking mats (which I highly recommend as it cuts way down on greasing pans!) For the 2 cups combined seeds and nuts I used about a cup of almonds, 3/4 cup of sunflower seeds, and 1/4 cup ground flaxseeds -- I'm all about cramming that healthy stuff in there when I can. I did have one ingredient switch that I think made a huge difference in the flavor: instead of canola oil, I used coconut oil. The smell and flavor was phenomenal! I know coconut oil doesn't work everywhere, but it sure works in this recipe. I think next time I might even try to cut down on the oil a bit, too.
Bug was my helper on this one -- she did great pouring in and stirring ingredients...
...as well as smashing it flat into the pan for baking.
And after 30 minutes: crunchy golden goodness!
Broken up, this filled 2 quart jars which I've been keeping in the freezer for maximum freshness. One jar is already gone as Other Half has pronounced this to be 10 times better than anything store-bought. I had dried currants to add to it after baking, but we've loved it plain.

If anyone else has used coconut oil in granola or has a link to a favorite recipe, I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

Easy Chocolate Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Diana (Ladybug Limited)) — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 19:06:00 +0000

The kiddos had a cake walk at the school carnival last week, so last minute we decided to make this chocolate cake from AllRecipes.com. I changed a couple things based on some comments and what we had, so here's my version:

1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1/2 cup white sugar
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup chocolate chips (we used Hershey's Raspberry Chocolate Chips)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan. Stir together the cake mix, instant pudding and sugar. Add the water, oil, eggs, and yogurt, mix until well blended. Finally, fold in the chocolate chips. Pour into the prepared Bundt pan.
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes in the preheated oven. Cake is done when a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.

So we actually ended up making this cake twice. Why? Apparently because I, being the Kitchen Catastrophe that I am, cannot grease and flour a pan properly. Other Half cautioned me about over-flouring the pan and I think I totally under-floured it in my fear. Happily for them, my kiddos had to consume Cake #1 as it came out of the pan as a crumbled mess.

So, while I was teaching my adult Spanish class, the rest of the family mixed up Cake #2, shown in the pictures above-- if you look closely, you can see all the excess flour on the cake as Other Half didn't want to risk repeating my error in the 11th hour. Since the cake came out of the oven after the kiddos were in bed, they got to decorate it in their jammies before school the next morning. This cake certainly doesn't need anything as it is moist and yummy and very chocolaty all by itself, but Bug had her heart set on sprinkles. So, first Other Half whipped up a basic chocolate glaze, and Bug drizzled on Layer #1. Then it got a good dusting of powdered sugar to cover up the flour, chocolate glaze Layer #2 (with help from Mugger who wanted in on the decorating action), and finally some pink sprinkles. Bug decided that the pink sprinkles would be a little clue that the chocolate chips were raspberry chocolate chips, making her cake extra special.

And special it was -- she won the award for Most Unique in the Pre-K class. As for the cake itself, it was yummy and yes, I'd make it again. I'm usually a from-scratch baker as I'm getting more conscious about what's in my food, but for a quick dessert to be made out of things I can keep in the pantry, this yellow cake mix and chocolate pudding mix combo can't be beat. Actually, a reviewer on AllRecipes gave several other variations she had tried and I think it won't be too long before I'm swapping in lemon pudding and blueberries.

Anybody got any no-fail desserts for me to try? Bug is certainly game for another round, especially if sprinkles are involved...

Summer Plans in the Making

noreply@blogger.com (Diana (Ladybug Limited)) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 20:52:00 +0000

Last summer I collected all sorts of ideas to keep summer boredom at bay -- you can read all about my plans here -- but the kiddos weren't too interested! Bug was only 3, though, and hadn't discovered the world of school. This year, the kiddos are 4 and 7, and they both have interests they just can't get enough of in school. Bug never gets to do enough art (unless you count coloring, which I don't) and Mugger could do science experiments every day of the year (which is why he's getting a science kit for his birthday next week.)

For collecting our plans, I found a great summer calendar template to print off here at Thirty Handmade Days as part of her Funner in the Summer series-- isn't it cute?
The kiddos and I then came up with a theme for each of the weekdays and I've been on the hunt for projects. Our themes will be...

Masterpiece Mondays: This is our art day for Bug. I've got lots of art projects lined up thanks to The Artful Parent and all sorts of craftiness via The Crafty Crow. These 2 sites have to be my favorites for kiddo arts and crafts. I also have 2 books I'm pulling lots of projects from, Preschool Art by Mary Ann Kohl (definitely not just for preschoolers -- this is a fabulous process-based art book) and The Kid Concoctions 10th Anniversary book (which is 4 Kid Concoctions books in one and has all sorts of paint and dough recipes, among tons of other things!)

Play in the Park Tuesdays: Our MOPS group meets at a different park every Tuesday morning in the summer, so I'm looking forward to checking out some new parks with the kiddos. After 2 years here, I still feel like the new kid on the block sometimes!

Wacky Wednesdays: This is our science experiment day for Mugger. He's receiving the Sciencewiz Chemistry Experiments and Book for his birthday and also has Gizmos & Gadgets and Things that Go Boom! to find projects in. Those, along with some good concoctions and contraptions in the Kid Concoctions book, as well as some projects I've bookmarked, mean we'll have plenty to keep us busy on Wednesdays.

In the Dirt Thursdays: This will be our nature exploration day. Some Thursdays we'll hike or explore a local waterfall, while other Thursdays we'll tackle nature craft projects like drying flowers or attempting woodworking with sticks and twigs! Thursdays are also the night we leave to go camping which leads to...

Family Fun Fridays: Other Half's day off is Friday, so this will be our family field trip day. Some Fridays we'll be at the pool or camping, but we do have a couple of bigger field trips planned like the Salem children's museum, Enchanted Forest theme park, and OMSI. Can't wait!

And not on the schedule but whenever we feel like it will be all our food activities: berry picking, making jam, gardening, making ice cream in baggies, cooking outside in the new fire pit, and baking new recipes. My mouth is watering already!

So what about you? Any big plans? We're always game for more ideas if you have winners you'd like to share.

Oh, and one last note, this is my 100th post. I haven't exactly been a faithful blogger, but I've made it this far...

The Vegetable Garden Update: June 5

noreply@blogger.com (Diana (Ladybug Limited)) — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 23:06:00 +0000

The beds aren't all filled yet, but we're making progress. The veggie starts I mentioned last time have been planted -- we have one whole box of canteloupe plants because we are fruit crazy! The other 6 x 2 box has the tomatoes, peppers, onions, and zucchini -- and also a piece of window screen to keep those pesky deer from nibbling through the fence! The corn and romaine went into the north end of one of the cinder block beds, though I don't think the corn will grow fast enough to shade the romaine if the weather ever warms up.

Next up: plant the lobelia still in its 6-pack, put up trellises for the melons and tomatoes to climb, get seeds in, and move the rest of that compost! I don't want to know how many wheelbarrow trips it takes to move 4.5 cubic yards...

The Vegetable Garden Update: June 1

noreply@blogger.com (Diana (Ladybug Limited)) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 21:34:00 +0000

So here it is, our starting point for our vegetable garden. We've had the herbs in containers on the porch for almost a month, but we had to wait to start the rest of the garden. The first order of business (after Other Half rented a mini loader for my birthday to clear the area), was to build the fence to deer-proof the whole thing. The deer are so bad where we live that we've even had them follow us down the driveway and I have no intentions of putting in a deer buffet!

Now that the fence and (most of) the beds are in, I ordered 4.5 cubic yards of compost to fill them. I was going to go with the Square Foot Gardening mix of equal parts compost, peat moss, and vermiculite, but after a bit of reading, we decided to plant in straight compost -- we'll find out as the summer goes on if that was a wise move!

Bug and I walked down to the local garden center this morning to load up her wagon with starts, so we've got cantaloupe, tomatoes, peppers (jalapeno & bell), zucchini, corn, romaine, and onion waiting to go in, along with all sorts of seeds they picked out last week. They say "monsoon-like" rain is headed our way tomorrow, so I'd better get those starts in! Then it's time to weed the berry patch we put in last year...

Raised Garden Beds a la Knock Off Wood

noreply@blogger.com (Diana (Ladybug Limited)) — Thu, 27 May 2010 04:18:00 +0000

So have you seen Knock-Off Wood, the site by blogger extraordinaire Ana White? This woman is incredible! Since October, she's posted nearly 200 plans to help people build real furniture on a real budget. This woman is going places, I tell ya.

I first discovered her site a few months ago and while I drooled over lots of her plans, it was her plans for the the ultra-cheap raised cedar beds that had me begging Other Half for a lesson in how to use his chop saw. I had lots of help from him in putting our garden beds together (two at 6' x 2' and one at 6' x 1'), but I can say that I cut every board, drove every screw and hammered in every nail. Other Half was so proud, he even took a pic as I finished:
Close-up of my hammer work:
My first bed, the "baby":
And here they are installed along the veggie garden fence. The first bed is only 1 foot deep so that I can maneuver the wheelbarrow and such in through the gate (where I'm standing.)
And those first 3 were so fun that we built two more, a bit different from the first set. The first set was out of cedar fence pickets (only $1.59 each), but we built these 6' x 4' ones out of 5/4" cedar planking. And yes, they're upside down in this photo! I had stapled on the weed barrier, but they're waiting for their base layer to be prepped there to the left of the cinder block beds (which were much more expensive and time-consuming to build, by the way)
I'll take you on a tour of the veggie garden one of these days-- the compost is waiting to be put in all of those beds...

Goodreads: Marcelo in the Real World

noreply@blogger.com (Diana (Ladybug Limited)) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 04:35:00 +0000

Marcelo In The Real World by Francisco X. Stork

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I think this wins the best of YA Lit of 2009 for me -- so much more than a story of a 17-year old with Asperger's coerced into working in the mailroom at his father's law firm for the summer. It is also a story of justice, compassion, love, and faith. The characters in this novel are all so sharply drawn and compelling-- I would love to meet Jasmine or Rabbi Heschel. This one is a must-buy and makes me want to read his others.

View all my reviews >>

Goodreads... or Where to Find Most of My Book Reviews These Days

noreply@blogger.com (Diana (Ladybug Limited)) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 04:26:00 +0000

So have you heard of Goodreads? It's a little site for posting and sharing book reviews. Actually, it's got a lot of capabilities that I haven't even explored since I joined in late February. Hmm, that was about the time my blogging dropped way off... Guess I've had fun posting my reads there!

This blog was in danger of being nothing more than book reviews, so feel free to head on over if you see something in my left sidebar that looks interesting. Please be forewarned though that sometimes my reviews are nothing more than my copious notes on a book. Since they're not all published here on the blog, I use the site to remember all the details I want to take notes on so I'm not compelled to buy the book. I'll have to link the cream of the crop to here from time to time...

2010 Newbery Winners: Today on Simple Kids

noreply@blogger.com (Diana (Ladybug Limited)) — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 04:50:00 +0000

It's been awhile since I've had a kid lit review on Simple Kids -- so I made up for it today with 5! Head on over to Simple Kids today for my post on this year's Newbery winner and the 4 Newbery Honor books. One of the 5 has become the new favorite read-aloud for my family...

Red Sings from Treetops

noreply@blogger.com (Diana (Ladybug Limited)) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:53:00 +0000

Green is new in spring. Shy.
Green peeks from buds, trembles in the breeze.
Green floats through rain-dark trees, and glows, mossy-soft, at my feet.
Green drips from tips of leaves onto Pup's nose.
In spring, even the rain tastes Green.

Yes, it is still technically winter, but all the sun from last week has summoned the daffodils into bloom, making this week's rain more bearable.

Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski was a Caldecott Honor book for this year and it is truly magical. Bug's mind has been totally opened in thinking of colors this way...

Observing Lent as a Family

noreply@blogger.com (Diana (Ladybug Limited)) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:41:00 +0000

Since today is Ash Wednesday, I made a comment on Facebook about giving stuff up for Lent, not really having settled yet on what I wanted to give up this year. A MOPS friend, knowing that I come from a church background that loves its liturgical seasons and traditions, asked if we were participating as a family and if we could give any pointers for her to use with her own young children.

I had to stop and think about that because although my husband and I each give something up for Lent each year, we generally undertake the decision of what to give up as a private matter and don't really discuss it until after the decision is made when we ask for mutual support. The more I thought about it, though, the more it made sense to make this a family affair. If we observe Advent as a family, why should we wait to include them in Lent?

Our children attend Lutheran school where they had participated in an Ash Wednesday service already this morning, so it was pretty easy to start the conversation. At 4 and 6, they weren't too clear on the details, but Mugger did pick up that the ashes were to remind us that we were sinful and to show God that we were sorry. We told them that during the 40 days of Lent some people give up something that can be a temptation for them (like too much coffee or too much Facebooking) to remind them of how Jesus was tempted in the desert for 40 days. Every time we are tempted towards whatever we gave up, we can remember how Jesus was tempted and ask Him for help in resisting the temptation. And every time we fail to resist the temptation, we can be thankful that Jesus was able to resist for our sakes and ask Him to restore us.

Once they understood that, we asked them if they had any ideas for what they could give up. Bug immediately said she wanted to give up being naughty -- oh, that it were that easy! We told them we wanted to come up with something more specific and if it could be the same thing for all of us, we would be able to help each other with loving correction.

So what did we come up with? Picking a specific example of naughtiness, we decided we wanted to give up screaming at each other for Lent. The kiddos tend to use screaming in disrespect at the start of a tantrum (usually when we tell them something the opposite of what they wanted) and we tend to use screaming when we're at our wits' end with frustration over their disobedience. To help each other, we agreed that if we're in a situation where it seems like screaming is about to happen, one of us may gently say, "No screaming for Lent."

So, Mindy, there's your answer, at least that's how we're doing it in our house. I also like to add something in when we're working on taking something out, so we're renewing our efforts at nightly family devotions and talking about beginning deliberate Bible verse memorization with our kiddos.

If you know me in real life, feel free to hold me accountable and ask me how it's going :) And if anyone has some resources for Scripture-memorization with kiddos, feel free to share them. Tonight we opened up a CD/DVD combo entitled "Hide 'Em in Your Heart" that we received awhile back, but the video is very dated -- it's a great lesson on '80s fashion, actually. I do love the concept, though, of putting Bible verses to music to aid memorization, so feel free to comment with any resources that have worked for you.

Word for 2010: Intentional

noreply@blogger.com (Diana (Ladybug Limited)) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:04:00 +0000

In my blog-reading lately, I've noticed that several have discussed having a word for the year, a key word to serve as a focal point. I think for me having a word for the year will give me a good frame of reference in some of my daily decision-making.

So the word I chose for 2010 is "intentional." All too often, it's way too easy for me to live life by the seat of my pants, with no real intent or purpose to my day. I've decided that I need to do something about it to make sure that my daily living reflects intentional choices.

In a way, I could blame my bloggy absence on this newfound intentional living. I made a choice over the holiday season to put more focus on my family and less on the computer, so I've limited my computer time quite a bit. As a result, my blogging has shifted down the priority list and although I have a million post ideas in the hopper, I haven't found the place for blogging to fit in my daily schedule yet.

And there's another intentional reason that I've stepped back from blogging. I've asked some ladies to help hold me accountable in the area of exercise and daily prayer/devotion time. In making room for these 2 things in my schedule I've come to the conclusion that these might happen most intentionally if I start getting up early. Due to my chronic headaches (which are definitely worse when I'm sleep-deprived), I've decided that I can't start getting up early until I start going to bed early. So... the intentional item I'm working on this week is to start getting ready for bed at 9:30 pm (since I need 8 hours minimum.) This early bedtime wipes out what has been my typical blogging time, hence my month-long absence.

By the way, if your New Year's Resolution has anything to do with daily exercise or devotions, I highly recommend the free e-book, Maximize Your Mornings. I've downloaded it already and plan on referring to it often as I try to get my mornings on track.

And the picture? That would be my new Shinzi Katoh calendar/organizer. I decided that if I'm going to try and be more intentional about my daily schedule, then I might as well write it in an organizer that makes me smile!

So how about you? Any resolutions or a word for the year?

Review: Veggie Tales: St. Nicholas -- A Story of Joyful Giving

noreply@blogger.com (Diana (Ladybug Limited)) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:16:00 +0000

What follows is the one star review I just wrote on Amazon.com for the latest Veggie Tale...

First, let me say we are big Veggie Tales fans, or perhaps I should say Classic Veggie Tales fans, as more and more of their more recent offerings have fallen flat for us.

We were hopeful for this latest Veggie Tale, especially since it started off with the premise that Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber would explain who Saint Nicholas really was. In the beginning, the story does just that, showing Nicholas' life as a young boy in ancient Greece, and is in fact fairly accurate through Nicholas becoming an orphan.

It is Nicholas' (young) adult life that the Veggie Tales team takes creative license with. Had this not been a story about an actual historical figure AND one that was claiming to set history straight, I would have had no problem with the ensuing silliness. But instead of sharing the story of how Nicholas helped 3 daughters with no dowry money by throwing sacks of coins through their window late at night, the V.T. team puts Nicholas in ridiculous disguises, the last looking basically like a modern day Santa Claus. Not only do they manage to get a red fur-trimmed suit into the ancient Greece setting, but they also add snow, trips down chimneys, and a "sleigh" and "reindeer" into the story. Granted, Larry the Cucumber is trying to make it more "Christmasy" but in doing so, he's gone right back to confusing children as to who St. Nicholas actually was.

So once again, I can only recommend a book instead of a video. If your children are ready to hear the true story of St. Nicholas (as my 6 and 4 year old were), then I can only suggest Santa, Are You For Real? by Harold Myra.

I certainly hope the V.T. team can return to their roots. This video (even its "silly" song) left us sorely disappointed. Here's hoping I can return it to my local Christian bookstore...

Review: Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

noreply@blogger.com (Diana (Ladybug Limited)) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:24:00 +0000

It's that time again! My review of Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock is up over at Simple Kids, along with 2 other picks for What We're Reading Wednesday. Enjoy!

Spool Doll Nativity, part 3

noreply@blogger.com (Diana (Ladybug Limited)) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:03:00 +0000

Well, I don't know if I'm going to be able to hold onto my self-awarded "craft-challenged" title much longer. My little spool doll nativity (part 1 and part 2) was featured in today's Christmas Roundup on One Pretty Thing. This site is one of my favorite sources for crafty inspiration, so I'm truly flattered. I even get to post a cute little button on my sidebar...

If you're stopping in from One Pretty Thing, thanks and welcome!

Links I'm Loving...

noreply@blogger.com (Diana (Ladybug Limited)) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:23:00 +0000

Usually I just post links I like to my Tumblr, but I've found that I don't have a great way to organize that yet. Here are some that I don't want to get buried there:

From Zen Family Habits, "5 Ingredients. 5 Minutes. 5 Meals" If ever there was a menu plan for me, this is it! Some day I'll get real brave and write a "My Life as a Housewife" post, but I am the world's most timid cook. A perfectionist/procrastinator who never really learned how to cook is not the most ideal person to let loose in the family kitchen, but sometimes the task falls to me. If you have any simple, can't-fail meals like these, I'd love to have them.
Don't remember how I found this one, but here's a simple recipe for homemade powdered laundry detergent. I don't know if Borax and Fels Naptha are the most eco-friendly detergent ingredients ever, but I'm all for them if this frugal combo works. And I don't have to melt soap on the stove, so even better. If you've made this, I'd love to hear how you liked it-- I'm considering springing this on my MOPS group for a "craft" in the spring...
From SugarDoodle, this Thanksgiving Thankful Countdown-- liked it so much I submitted it to our MOPS newsletter. I love the idea of counting down to Thanksgiving with daily deliberate gratitude rather than relegating it to the holiday we rush through between the excesses of Halloween and Christmas.
If you saw my posts on the spool doll nativity, you could probably guess that I have a lot of leftover wooden spools. So when I saw these spool Advent calendars on Just Something I Made, I knew I had found my next spool project. I happen to have a bunch of green ones, so I'm tempted to put mine on a wire and have a wreath-shaped Advent calendar. Hmm, maybe there will be a photo op in that one...
And finally, the gem of Christmas preparation posts (pass this one on to the grandparents!) would be "10 Clutter-Free Gift Ideas for Kids" by Megan (of Simple Kids) on Simple Mom. We've discussed this with my folks (and they're on board!) but haven't with the in-laws yet. Wish me luck!

Photo Tutorial: Spool Doll Nativity, part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Diana (Ladybug Limited)) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:29:00 +0000

In our previous episode of Crafts for the Craft-Challenged, we tackled a small spool doll nativity consisting of Baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. This time, I'd like to show you what I did for the shepherds, the wise men, and an angel, in case you're inspired to create the whole cast.

Shepherds: I did them identical to Joseph-- the only difference is a lighter shade of corduroy!

Wise Men: They each got robes of purple corduroy, though I gave them each a belt from a different trim so they wouldn't be identical (like the shepherds.) I used some gold lame ribbon for their crowns, but if you look at the top of their heads, you can see the hole that goes through the bead!

Angel: She had her gown and wings made from some Christmas ribbon-- I tied a bow with a piece of string and glued it on the back. She also got a pipe cleaner halo glued into the hole at the top of her head.

And here they all are! If you make your own spool doll nativity, I'd love for you to leave a link here. I'm sure there are several out there who are much less craft-challenged than I and will come up with all sorts of cute ideas to add to this.

Photo Tutorial: Spool Doll Nativity, part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Diana (Ladybug Limited)) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:18:00 +0000

Welcome to another episode of Crafts for the Craft-Challenged! Last time, altered Altoid tins; this time, it's a simple spool doll nativity. I chose this craft for our MOPS group so that the moms would have a somewhat childproof nativity for their kiddos to experience the Christmas story. This post will get you started with Baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Once you conquer those, feel free to move on to the rest of the cast of Christmas with Spool Doll Nativity, part 2, which covers the shepherds, the wise men, and an angel. Click on any of the pix to make them bigger if you need the details...

Supplies: you'll need a hot glue gun, 3 spools (2 around 2 inches and 1 around 1 inch), 3 doll bead heads (I got these prepainted 1-inch ones off of Craigslist), some hemp cord or other string (about a 12" piece), and some fabric scraps. I used 3 linen pieces that were cut a little over 3" x 4" for Baby Jesus' wrap and Mary and Joseph's headpieces and 2 scraps of corduroy that were about 1 3/4" x 4 1/2" for their bodies.

Step 1: If the labels on your wood spools are old and loose, I'd suggest peeling them off so that they don't cause a head to fall off later! Then hot glue the 3 heads onto the 3 spools. By the way, I found tons of spools by searching "wood* spools" on eBay.

Step 2: Glue the fabric pieces around Mary and Joseph for their bodies. I liked the frayed look, so I trimmed them at the exact size of the spool. Feel free to leave your fabric a bit longer and fold it under if you don't want the fraying.

Step 3: To do the headpieces, fold back a bit of the 4" edge on a linen scrap. I anchored that fold with a dot of glue in the center, mostly to help me find the center. Then put some hot glue on the head to adhere the headpiece to Mary or Joseph's scalp. I then glued at the edge of the spool covered by the headpiece so that the linen would lie down. Finally, I made 2 folds in the back and anchored each of those with a dot of glue for more aesthetically-pleasing folds.

Step 4: To differentiate Joseph from Mary, wrap a 12-inch piece of hemp string around his waist and knot it in the front. Feel free to secure the knot with a dot of hot glue-- I'm a firm believer in using plenty of hot glue!

Step 5: Baby Jesus was the tough one to figure out, so check the pix above. My linen scrap had a selvage edge that I loved, so notice how I lined up the piece to make sure it would show on the final fold. I started by putting a dot of glue at the back of the base of the Baby Jesus spool to secure the back of his swaddling clothes. Then I flipped him over and folded down the edges triangularly (is that a word?) and glued them along the front. If your scrap is just a bit big, like mine was, you can fold under the edge that wraps around his face so that he peeks out just right. Next (3rd pic), you fold over one of those triangle flaps and glue it down and finally, fold over the flap with the selvage edge and secure it with hot glue.

You did it! Hope your kiddos enjoy their very own spool doll nativity!