Trish's Day

Re-Thinking School...Again

2011-08-23T09:09:00.000-04:00

I feel the need to do this on a regular basis. I find that our household has regular cycles. I will be organized and on top of things, the kids are engaged in lessons. Then things begin to slide. The cleanliness of our home slides downward, I am less organized, fewer school lessons are happening. Since we school year-round, I kind of expect this. Usually through the summer, school lessons become much more relaxed and less planned. There is less table-time and more outdoor exploration time. I think this is fairly natural and good. However, as my children's peers are returning to school and the world (including most homeschoolers) gets into "back-to-school" mode, I can't help but feel like I need to kick our homeschooling into a higher gear. Often, I question what this should look like for our family and take a short season of prayerful study and consideration. Thankfully, we have a couple of weeks here with a relaxed schedule that I can afford to do this.

When I first decided to homeschool over 13 years ago when my oldest was ready to start kindergarten, I was led to a book called, Wisdom's Way of Learning by Marilyn Howshall. It was so odd how this book came into my hands and I firmly believe that it was a gift of God to point me in the right direction as I began this homeschooling journey. This book prevented me from having the school-at-home mentality. Being, myself, a product of the public school system, that was all I really knew about education. This book, however, was written by a mom who was much further on her homeschooling journey and had really questioned education and sought God for answers. From this I learned that education should not be all about the curriculum and scope and sequence charts. It is about our children's hearts, pointing them toward God and helping them to find God's purpose for their lives. Homeschooling then is more about training our child's character, teaching them how to learn, and seeking God's voice. This is very challenging, but does lift the burden of making sure we cover everything. If we have taught our children how to learn anything, when they need it, they will learn it quickly.

I lost this book over the years and after a couple of moves. I may have lent it out, but I just don't remember. This year I discovered that I could buy it in a revised e-book form from Marilyn's website. So, re-reading this book now, as my oldest begins her senior year, I feel like I am coming around full-circle. Over the years I have struggled with implementing this. Part of me finds it easier to just use a scope and sequence like a checklist and go through the motions of school using canned curriculum while part of me rebels against it. REALLY rebels against it. I can't tell you how many curriculums we have begun to use, but *I* just couldn't get through them. It feels so wrong to me. I think it is because God has shown me real life learning and I can't go back. But because of this I have often felt like a failure as a homeschooling mom. I have my feet planted in both camps and therefore I do not feel successful with either.

I am still mulling this around in my mind. I feel like God is really trying to open my eyes to a big truth here. As this becomes more concrete in my own head, I will be able to share it better. But suffice to say, I will be stepping back away from most curriculum and textbooks and using real-life, blank notebooks, and my library card this year. And prayer. I will be using LOTS of prayer.

As the school bus drives past...

2011-08-17T07:20:00.000-04:00

As the rest of the world around me readies to send their children back to school, I can't help but feel so thankful that I don't have to. I would be lying if I didn't admit that a small part of me craves to gain the hours of quiet time in my day, but ultimately they are not worth the price. I know in my heart that homeschooling is what is right for our family right now. It is what God has led us to and it works for us. I know that for others, God has led them to other avenues for schooling. But, I do have to say that I am ever so grateful that our place is here, at home.

So, as I hear the school bus rumble by, I will be thankful that my kids are still in their pajamas and preparing for their day calmly without rushing and I didn't have to get up early to pack lunches. I will enjoy spending the days with my children doing devotions around the breakfast table and reading lessons cuddled on the couch. Of course, it is not all such sweetness. It is hard work and there are days where no one seems to want to do what they should be, but I will take those times in trade for the good ones. The days when I get to see my children's eyes light up with understanding, when they work together as a team, when things just work. I am feeling so blessed for this opportunity to teach my children!

Mundane, but never boring!

2011-06-15T08:28:00.000-04:00

Well, I am in housework catchup mode. There are many areas of our home that I have been too busy to keep up on properly. My pantry, which I mentioned the other day is one of them. I suppose that I should take an after picture. It is amazingly better. Now, I am tackling laundry. "Laundry" should be a four letter word. It certainly is dirty and not very pleasant. Add my inconstancy with laundry and a household of eight people and you get a LAUNDRY MONSTER! So yesterday, I spent the bulk of the day washing, drying, folding, hanging, sorting clothes. My laundry room was piled full with clean laundry which I have sorted through. Now, my bedroom has stacks of out of season clothes, clothes that I am saving, but don't currently fit a child, but will, and boxes of clothes to donate. Of course this was all done amidst schoolwork, reading, meal prep, cleaning, as well as dealing with a certain 4 year old that God must have put into my life to make me realize that I am totally inept as a parent. Let's just say that when she is in a mood, I could tell her to go eat candy and she would feel the need to refuse just because I said it. [sigh] It is exhausting. Needless to say, this one child took a large chunk of my day yesterday. I am praying for wisdom and guidance from God, because nothing I have learned from my 17+ years of parenting is helping. God clearly has to intervene and I am depending on Him. Of course, that's right where He wants me now isn't it?

It's Summer!

2011-06-09T09:38:00.000-04:00

After cold and rainy weather for what felt like FOREVER, it finally feels like summer. We've had HOT, humid weather and lots of sunshine. It does look like a storm is rolling in today, though. I am kind of bummed about that because my garden needs a bit of tilling so I can get it planted. This was not a good year to try and create a new big garden. It has been too wet to work the ground. Hubby finally got our garden plowed and disked, but it needs some tilling before planting. It should have happened last weekend, but mowing took precedence. I am hoping we don't get so much rain today that we can't till and plant this weekend.

Now that I have more days at home without outside commitments, I have been taking this opportunity to do some cleaning and organization that was long overdue. Our schoolroom/office was a ridiculous mess. You couldn't even walk through the place because it tend to be a dumping place for everything. I started sorting though stuff, but got discouraged. That paired with the fact that we were have people over last weekend, I just boxed everything up and hauled it to the basement. I promised myself that I would go through one box per day. I might not be keeping up with that so far this week...BUT the schoolroom looks great!

Yesterday, I started cleaning out my pantry. It is packed full and I can never find anything. I had shelves full of bags of bulk foods, etc. I would look for something, not see it, and end up buying it. After returning from Sam's Club yesterday, I realized that something HAD to be done. I didn't have room to put anything away. So I broke down and purchased some containers to store all of our bulk things like nuts, grains and dried fruit. I was so glad to get rid of all of those little bags! It is still in process and my kitchen counter island is still covered, but I am hoping to have it put together by the end of the day. Fact is, we go though a lot of food. We have changed out diet to mostly unprocessed, whole, real food. This can allow for way less packaging and a tidier pantry. I just had to break down and spring for some containers. I fell in love with one type, but they were $10-15 each. I settled on a more economical option and they seem to be working out great.

My next big project will be our clothing/laundry situation. I have come to the conclusion (with help from my hubby) that I am a clothes hoarder. I save every outgrown thing for the next child coming up. I buy any good deal I find even if I have enough clothes for that particular child. (When I mean good deal, I am talking a quarter.) However, I am discovering that much of what I have saved looked pretty sad. It is worn, faded and outdated. This should be no surprise. I have about 7 years between several of my same sex siblings. If you figure that most of the clothes were purchased used, they are over a decade old and have seen the wear of at least two children. A couple of boxed were attacked by mice as well, so they were trash. So, I am sorting through and getting rid of a bunch of stuff. I will only save the best of the best clothing and pass on the rest to someone else. I probably have a couple of weeks worth of work to go through my stash.

That's my life right now. It is busy with the mundane but necessary.

School's NOT Out for Summer (Schooling Year-Round)

2011-06-02T04:51:00.002-04:00

As the traditional school year comes to a close and our year-round homeschool does not, I begin to question myself and reevaluate whether we are on the right course. Even all of my homeschool friends are counting the days until they are done for the year. As much as I would like to take a vacation from my teaching responsibilities, I feel like learning is a lifelong thing and we should never actually take a break from it. I find it hard to believe that my homeschooling friends truly take a break from learning either I think what they are really doing is taking a break from the schoolWORK. You know, the textbooks and curriculum and grading papers and making assignments. I can't blame anyone for that!

I really struggle with traditional schoolwork aspect of education. Part of me would love to see my children happily sitting at their little desks working away at above grade level curriculum each day. But the reality is that that is not always very fun. It can be so boring for the kids and therefore, they are not learning very much. It is also a lot of work planning and grading all those lessons not mention the pain in making the children get the work done when they would rather be doing other things. I remember how boring I thought much of my schoolwork was. What I don't remember is much of what I “learned” in that process. I feel like I am learning so much more with my kids now.

Part of me is very rebellious toward traditional education methods. I feel like so much of it is busy-work that doesn't engage real learning. I personally love to learn new things. Something will spark my interest and I learn about it. You would not believe all of the things that I dabble in. I am reading non-fiction books all of the time just to learn about stuff. Do I do this because it was assigned to me? Of course not! I do it because I want to. I do it because there is a reason to learn it because it will be a help in my life. As I think about it, this is the gift of education that I want to pass along to my kids. I want them to passionately want to know about and do things and have the skills to be able to learn them.

I am coming to realize that I could be classified as and “unschooler.” According to Wikipedia:

“Unschooling is a range of educational philosophies and practices centered on allowing children to learn through their natural life experiences, including child directed play, game play,household responsibilities, work experience, and social interaction, rather than through a more traditional school curriculum. Unschooling encourages exploration of activities led by the children themselves, facilitated by the adults. Unschooling differs from conventional schooling principally in the thesis that standard curricula and conventional grading methods, as well as other features of traditional schooling, are counterproductive to the goal of maximizing the education of each child.”

Yep, that sounds a lot like me. I definitely am not a radical unschooler because things are not completely child led. When I see a need for my children to learn something in particular, I force my own agenda. The older children do use a math curriculum and we use various curriculums for different subjects during different seasons. I require reading, copywork, dictation, and some memorization. When the kids have an interest or questions about something we look up an answer. Google can be our best friend. If more interest is sparked, we utilize our local library to research more. Sometimes we get all school-ish with a subject doing more paperwork, but more often we just talk about it so I know that they understand it.

One thing I find is a big requirement for this type of education is a lot of one-on-one quiet time with God. Before each of my children were born, He knew their complete life-path. He knows exactly what they need to be equipped for the work He has for them. So, that's what I am doing praying and thinking and listening.

I'm Back....

2011-05-31T15:19:00.001-04:00

Why yes; yes I have fallen off the face of the earth.

Life has just seemed crazy-busy lately. I have resigned myself that with a houseful of children from young to old, life is gonna be full. This is not my restful season of life. Keeping up with day to day life has just been a big ol' challenge for me. There is never a break from the meal planning, grocery shopping, cooking, dishes, cleaning, laundry, child training, and more. I know there are women who handle much bigger households much more efficiently than me, but for this only-child mom, managing a household of 8 people is very challenging. I am figuring this all out as I go.

So, blogging has taken a backseat. Pretty obvious when my last post was back in February. (We did get rid of the lice, by the way.) There are a lot of things that I love to do that I have had to set aside for a while. I hope and pray that I can train myself and my family to be more organized so that I can pick them back up again because I really miss them! Not doing much photography or any scrapbooking makes me feel like I have cut off an arm. I will come back to it though. I pray it can be soon.

Now that many of our outside activities are ending for the summer, I feel like I have just a bit more time. I intend to use it to catch up on some much needed home organization and to do some projects that I have put off. No, school is not ending for us, but it is shifting into a different, more relaxed mode. I am loving it! So, hopefully, I will be around the ol' blog more. There are so many cool things that I have been learning that I would love to share here.

They're back....

2011-02-24T09:14:00.000-05:00

Perhaps it is inevitable when you have 6 active, social kids who are involved in things, but we are dealing with head lice in our house again. [big giant sigh] Three years ago, we dealt with this in a big way and it was a bit of a nightmare. Thankfully, we have caught it early this time and I pray have already nipped it.

Tuesday morning as I was brushing my four year old, Rachel's, hair, Samuel began messing in my bathroom drawer and pulled out the Robi comb. It made me think about the fact that we haven't done any head checks in quite a while. Being the procrastinator that I am, I didn't intend to do them at that time either, but it was on the brain. I think that is why I took notice of the teeny tiny speck I saw in Rachel's hair as I brushed. It looked just like a nit (louse egg), but I'm thinking that it couldn't be, I just had lice on my mind.. So, I starting looking closer at her head. I found more! I was still having trouble believing it. I kept hunting for a live one. I did eventually find a live baby. Trying to stay calm, I checked everyone else. Not a sign of anything on any other head. Whew!

So, the work began. I did a mayonnaise treatment on Rachel. Mayo works great to kill any live lice on a head. You slather it on thick from scalp to tips and wrap the head in plastic (a shower cap works great). Although the mayo is not toxic, it smothers the lice. They need air to survive. After 8 hours or so, you wash it and the dead bugs out. We found only one dead adult louse when we washed Rachel's hair out. The mayo does not, however, kill the eggs so I spent an hour or so nit-picky her head. I found about a dozen eggs and removed them.

We vacuumed everything in the house: floors, furniture, pillows. I tore apart the younger kids rooms completely. Anything fabric that couldn't be washed in hot water and dried on high got quarantined in plastic bags in the attic. They will stay there for 2 weeks. Lice need heat and human blood to live. I vacuumed, wiped everything. As a bonus, it was a perfect opportunity to completely rearrange the kids' rooms which they had been bugging me to do anyway, but I didn't want to do without cleaning out all the toys.

All bedding along with comforters and extra blankets have been washed hot. This is a lot because we like our extra blankets. They are everywhere and we even have a big trunk FULL of afghans. My washing machine is not fast; its shortest cycle takes 45 minutes. I have been trying to keep right up with switching loads as soon as it is done, but this process is slow. We are also washing all the towels, coats, pajamas and clothes that have been out in circulation the past few days.

Then there are all of the hair things: combs, brushes, rubber-bands, hair pretties... They either need to be boiled for 10 minutes, soaked in rubbing alcohol, or quarantined for 2 weeks. I have been cleaning out every drawer where we keep this stuff.

Needless to say, I have been very busy the past couple of days! There is much to be thankful for in all of this, though. God is good!

I caught this early and we are not dealing with an infestation affecting the whole house. I believe it was by God's grace that I even looked.
This happens to be a week without as many outside commitments as normal. We have been able to stay home and deal with this.
It has forced me to do some much overdue cleaning and organizing. That does feel good!

I am praying that we have nipped this! I am doing head checks every day and will continue to do so for the next couple of weeks. Three years ago we went through lice hell. We didn't discover it until we had a huge infestation and I didn't realize that all it takes is missing one egg for the process to restart two weeks later which it did for us. I learned a lot through that process which I documented here: Head Lice: More than you ever wanted to know

Hopefully, you won't ever need this info. Gotta go; time to switch the laundry!

POIIs...Points of Internet Interest

2011-02-05T08:04:00.000-05:00

Here are a few interesting things I have discovered in my internet wanderings...

Theo Jansen's Strandbeests - It is amazing what this man can do with a bit of PVC pipe. Truly incredible wind-powered kinetic sculptures. I love how he says that designing them has giving him an appreciation for the design by The Creator.

Meal Planning with Google Calendar - something I have discussed here before. Since acquiring a smartphone, I am trying to implement this again. There are great links to other articles with advice on this, too.

Meal Planning Resources - great list of sites

Handy Reading Level Lists - I always find these little lists helpful when trying to direct my young readers.

Colleges and Universities that Offer Free Courses Online- another great web resource. This one links to complete college courses available online.

Thought for the day...

2011-01-27T09:25:00.000-05:00

If a sudden jar can cause me to speak an impatient, unloving word, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
For a cup brimful of sweet water cannot spill even one drop of bitter water, however suddenly jolted.
~ Amy Carmichael

Homemade Rice Milk

2011-01-22T09:00:00.001-05:00

As I have shared before, we have been trying to eliminate dairy in our house because of one of my daughter's allergy to it and because it is just overall a more healthy choice. There are times, however, that you just want some milk for your oatmeal or cereal. We have bought soy milk, rice milk and almond milk, but they can get pretty pricey. Well, I discovered that you can make these milks at home for a fraction of the cost and it is easy. I shared some friends that I was making my own rice milk and they looked shocked. "You make your own rice milk?" They seemed impressed. Well, once you hear how easy this is, you will find me very unimpressive. [wink] AND you will think twice about spend $4 for a half gallon of it in the store.

Homemade Rice Milk

Step 1: Cook up some brown rice. I like to use my rice cooker, but any old way is fine. Just follow the directions of the package.

Step 2: Add 3 cups of your favorite water to your blender.

Step 3: Add one cup of cooked brown rice to blender.

Step 4: Blend. Your water will turn white and milky fairly quickly. I keep the blender running on high for several minutes to pulverize the rice thoroughly.

Step 5: Add flavorings if desired. I usually add a squirt honey or agave nectar while the blender is still running. If you like the vanilla flavor like they sell at the store, add a splash of vanilla extract, too. You could even add chocolate if that's your thing.

Step 6: Enjoy! You can strain it if you want, but I don't find it is very gritty unstrained. You can also just let it sit for a minute and let the things settle a bit.

See, I told you it was easy! You can use this same technique for any grain based milk. I plan on trying quinoa as another healthy alternative. You can also use this method to make soy milk. Just cook the soybeans and use them instead of rice. You will probably find that you want to strain that, though.

Later I will share with you how to make almond milk as well as other nut milks.

I Have Gone Green

2011-01-20T08:10:00.002-05:00

There is much talk about being "green" in our lifestyles. We can "save the planet" by recycling or using florescent bulbs. I am all for being a good steward of the earth God has given us, but that is not what I am going to talk about today. Let's discuss being good stewards of our bodies instead.

In a quest to eat healthier, hubby and I started on a new diet, a new way of eating. We are using the Hallelujah Diet as our guide. It is a plant-based diet with a goal that at least 85% of food intake is raw. I have to tell you, this is a challenge and quite different from our previous diet. We had been eating a lot of fruits and vegetables and I was cooking nearly everything from scratch, but this is step further. There is much less cooking and much more preparing of fresh produce.

Something we have begun to incorporate into our daily diet are green smoothies. Although familiar with smoothies, I had never heard of a green smoothie before. It is a smoothie packed full of fruit, but also leafy green vegetables such as spinach or kale. Greens are packed full of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and even protein. But who wants to consume platefuls of greens every day? By mixing them in a smoothie with lots of fruit, you get a sweet treat AND your greens.

Since, we have started this diet, the green smoothies are what we seem to get asked the most about, so I thought I would share how we make them. I don't use a recipe, but more of a formula:

1 to 1 1/2 cups liquid: I usually use water, but you can use juice for a sweeter smoothie, or milk for a creamier one. Almond milk is very tasty.
1 to 2 bananas: They make it creamy and sweet. You can use fresh or frozen. We take over-ripe bananas, peel them, and keep them in a ziplock in the freezer. Watch for reduced, brown bananas in your grocer's produce department next time you are there.
1 to 2 handfuls of greens: Spinach is my favorite, but kale is tasty. Sometimes I mix in some beet greens. Put in what you like, the darker the green the better. I avoid strong tasting ones like turnip greens because I prefer to taste the fruit not the greens in my smoothie.
1 to 2 cups fruit: Whatever you like is good. Red grapes are sweet and delicious. Since it is winter, I have been using frozen fruit a lot. You can find big bags of blueberries and strawberries. There is also a nice blend of mango, peach, pineapple and strawberry. Yummy! This is a good opportunity to use fruit that is getting a bit soft to just eat. I am not a fan of squishy kiwi, but they are delightful in a smoothie.
Extras: Some things I like to add to our smoothies are fresh ginger (a little bit goes a long way), milled flax seed, or a spoonful of nut butter ( good if this is going to replace a meal). If the fruit I used was not very sweet, I may add some honey, or dates.

Now blend away! If you are using a lot of frozen stuff, you may find you need extra liquid to get this blended. If you have used a lot of berries, your smoothie won't be as green, but instead a bit more brown. Don't worry, it will taste good.

Hubby takes a quart of this to work with him every day. I usually drink some green smoothie at breakfast and often put it in my travel mug when I have to eat on the run. Our day schedules have been pretty busy this year and often I am struggling to get my lunch in at home. It is usually acceptable to bring a cup into a meeting, but not a meal. Everyone assumes that I am just drinking my coffee, when often I am "eating" my lunch right in front of them.

Even if you don't want to radically change your diet, adding green smoothies will benefit you. They are full of healthy goodness and will help to curb your appetite. Victoria Boutenko in her book, Green for Life, talks about an experiment they did called the Roseburg Study where they got 27 people to commit to drinking a quart of green smoothie daily for a month. They didn't change their lifestyle otherwise. Then they documented the changes in their health. It was pretty remarkable.

So there you have it. As my husband says, we are becoming hippies with all this healthy living. It is our running joke. If being a hippy means feeling better and losing weight, I am OK with that!

Other green smoothie resources:

Hummus!

2011-01-14T11:29:00.000-05:00

A new family favorite in the house is homemade hummus. We used to buy the ready-made stuff at the store, but it is a bit pricey. When you figure that it is made up of mostly garbanzo beans (chickpeas) it is a fairly inexpensive thing to make. We like it with tortilla or pita chips, fresh veggies, and I have caught my oldest just eating it with a spoon. Hey, it is gluten-dairy-egg free and yummy. Who can blame her? This is the recipe out of the Vita-Mix Whole Food cookbook with a couple of tweaks. (Yes, we were blessed with a Vita-Mix for Christmas. I am sure I will be sharing more about that later.) Although this calls for canned beans, you can save even more money by buying a big bag of dried beans and cooking them. It is super easy and then we bag them in individual portions and put them in the freezer for later use.

HUMMUS

2 (15 oz) cans chick peas, one drained, one with liquid
1/4 cup raw sesame seeds (or tahini)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice (about the juice of one lemon)
1 garlic clove, peeled
1 teaspoon cumin
salt to taste
handful of fresh parsley or cilantro, chopped (optional)

Process all ingredients except the fresh herbs (if using) in a blender or food processor. Once smooth add herbs a process just enough to mix them through (If you blend too much, your hummus will turn green. Trust me; I know this from experience.)

You can get creative and flavor your hummus with roasted red peppers, spinach, or other herbs. Use your imagination.

The Greatest Wealth is Health

2011-01-11T08:40:00.000-05:00

I have no idea who originally said, "The greatest wealth is health," but they are so right. You don't realize it until you are not feeling up to par. We had the influenza go through our house the week after Christmas. I was down for 3 days with a fever of 102-103 degrees. Not fun, but I was blessed that my hubby was home that week and could manage the household. I thought I was completely back on my feet, but I have never gotten rid of all my sinus congestion. Sunday I woke up with the beginnings of a fever blister which is a sure sign that my body is fighting something and each day since I have felt more worn down. This morning I am finding that my brain just will not kick into gear and I am so tired. Sadly, though, it is not possible to rest. There is a home to manage, schoolwork to do, we have our gym class co-op this afternoon and really need to go to the grocery store. We even have outside commitments this evening.

I am not really sure why I am sharing all of this. I guess I am using this blog space as a sort of brain dump. I am thinking about how do we function as Christ followers when we are struggling to just do the basics? Having made the choice for Christ, I know that I have crossed over from death to life, I am clothed in His righteousness, I am on the eternal path. BUT I am still living here in this earthly realm full of sin and trials and sometimes I feel like I am just sitting here wallowing in the mud not accomplishing anything of significance.

Some days it is really hard to see the eternal in the midst of the laundry, messes, errands, and children's squabbles. I wonder what it even looks like in the midst of the chaos of life. Then my little girl comes up and snuggles onto my lap and looks at me with those adoring eyes. There it is! I just saw a glimpse of it. Or I look at just the right time to see someones kind action toward a stranger at the grocery store. Again, I realize I have gotten another small taste of something heavenly. If you look, these touches of heaven are all around us, but they are so easily hidden in the midst of the ordinary, the chaos and the busyness. These small acts of love and kindness towards others, THESE are the eternal things. These are the things that matter. So, even though I am tired, and would much rather crawl back in bed than be the mom today, I choose to go forward. I will go about my day with intention. I will remember that my actions today do have eternal significance because when I show love and kindness in the middle of the mess, someone else may see it and recognize Christ in me. THEY will get that taste of the eternal. And isn't that really what it is all about?

Gluten-Free Baking

2011-01-10T08:46:00.001-05:00

Well, I am officially trying something new. I think I have shared a bit about my oldest daughter and her stomach issues. We had allergy testing done on her and discovered that she is definitely allergic to dairy, confirmed that she is allergic to pork as well as possibly being allergic or sensitive to many other foods. She has decided to "go with her gut" and cut out a lot of different foods from her diet. She is feeling SO MUCH BETTER, so she is very determined to be disciplined in this area. She cut out dairy and mourned the loss of cheese. She also eliminated all meat, and eggs. This helped a lot, but she realized that there was still something bothering her. It seemed that her beloved bread was giving her stomach aches. So, she decided to try cutting out gluten.

You may wonder what is left, what in the world DOES she eat. Plenty of rice, fruit (fresh and dried) and veggies. Back in November hubby and I decided to eat better and started to follow the Hallelujah Diet which is a plant based diet consisting of 85% raw food. This fits very well with the way that Elizabeth has been eating already. However, she has been complaining that she is craving crackers and bread. Santa tried to buy her some for her stocking, but couldn't find a single store-bought gluten-free cracker that didn't have any dairy or eggs. Store-bought gluten-free bread is ridiculously expensive and I have been told is not very tasty. So, I decided that I had to find all the strange ingredients required and make my daughter some gluten-free goodies.

A friend who is going through the gluten-free thing with her son, told me about a book she found called Cooking for Isaiah. In it, the author has a recipe for for a gluten-free all-purpose baking mix that she uses for all of her recipes (which are also dairy-free). I decided to mix some up and create some crepes. I suppose this was pretty adventurous since I have never done the gluten-free thing OR ever made crepes. They were delicious! We stuffed them with fresh apples, raisins, honey and cinnamon. My only complaint was that they took forever to make. That was only because I had one pan to make them in and had to do them one at a time. That was a s-l-o-w process when cooking for a family of eight. Next time we will stick with pancakes and put the fruit on top because I can get a couple of griddles going at once so we aren't cooking all morning.

Next I decided to tackle gluten-free bread. I have shared before that I have been making bread for the past couple of years using the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day technique. Their newest book includes several gluten-free recipes. I picked one that the main ingredient was corn starch of all things. Although the dough does not behave like traditional bread dough, the bread came out very good with a heavy yet springy texture. My daughter was thrilled to have bread once again! Next time I may try this recipe and compare it.

Both of these recipes I used called for eggs. My daughter has given these up too, so I had to get creative. I remembered reading years ago in the Tightwad Gazette that you could substitute 1 tablespoon of soy flour plus 2 tablespoons of water for 1 egg in a recipe. There it was done for frugality, I decided to try it for health restrictions. It seemed to work just fine. I have never tried the egg versions of these recipes to compare, but we were very satisfied with how things came out. I think you can by a soy-based egg substitute, but I am sure it costs way more than this method.

So, I would have to say that my initial attempts at gluten-free baking have not scared me off. I think I will continue to experiment with it. The gluten-free ingredients are definitely more costly than wheat flour, so I will probably not bake like this for everyone in the house all the time. I will have to come up with some sort of balance. Perhaps I will try baking several things, cutting them into single serving sizes and freezing them. Then when we are eating something that my daughter can't have, we can pull something out of the freezer for her and thaw it in the microwave.

I highly resolve...

2011-01-08T10:25:00.000-05:00

Yes, it is a new year. I have never been a big fan of new year's resolutions. It seems silly to me that I should try to change my self or my circumstances just because I am bringing out a new calendar. I do go through times when I am craving renewal and do resolve to make changes, but they are related more to what is currently going on in my life. When things are getting chaotic and out of control, I knuckle down and make some changes. However, this year, things are feeling pretty disorganized after this holiday season and I am feeling like I need to make some changes.

So here it is, for what it is worth. These are the areas that I am working on.

I highly resolve to:

continue following the Hallelujah Diet to feed myself and my family which we started back on November 1st. I think it is the right path to get us healthier.
become more minimalistic. This comes from a tried and true packrat. However, I am trying to change my thinking and simplify my stuff. No easy task for me in household of 8, but it is a goal that I am working towards.
strive to be more organized with my time and my stuff. Always something that I need to do.

Hopefully, I can find the time to elaborate more on these goals in the coming week and share some of the tricks I plan to use to accomplish them. But I am putting them out here for all to see and hold me accountable.

Christmas Reading

2010-12-21T05:23:00.000-05:00

Do you have a favorite book you like to read at Christmas? We have a nice stack of Christmas picture books that we have collected over the years that we pull out and read during the holidays. Last year I read A Christmas Carol out loud to the kids. That is a good one, but a little over the heads of the younger children. Last year we got the audio version of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. It is a really cute story and although it is written to younger audience, it has appeal even for adults with a great message about the transforming power of Jesus. A friend mentioned that she reads this book every year because she loves it and I thought that it might be a great tradition to read it aloud in our home. So, I made the investment in it (which is a big deal for me because I rarely by books but instead rely on the library). So, far the younger kids are really enjoying it. I hope to do a little each day and time it to finish just before Christmas.

So, do you have any Christmas book traditions in your home?

Here are a few of the Christmas books we have collected over the years:

Countdown to Christmas

2010-12-20T09:22:00.000-05:00

Well, it is that time of year when I have to realize that I am just a few days from Christmas and I have a lot that is yet not done. I am out of time. I am out of money. It makes me sad. Maybe if I didn't put the extra burden of trying to make many of my gifts to save money Christmas wouldn't be so stressful. So, it is crunch time. I have to realistically wrap up all of my projects. I have to go through my gift lists and make sure everyone is covered and that it looks balanced. (Each of my children has the same amount, each of my nephews have the same amount.) I don't want anyone to feel slighted.

To be honest, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed and stressed. This makes me sad because Christmas shouldn't be this way. God never intended for the birth of His Son to be a stress on our lives. He is the Prince of PEACE! Every year I say that I am going to break this cycle. Things may improve, but are still too stressful. So, I am reflecting a bit this morning and talking to God about He thinks is important. I want Him to prioritize my to-do list. Then at least I can have some peace about what gets done and what doesn't.

My Cup Runneth Over

2010-12-14T08:04:00.004-05:00

My cup runneth over...I should be thankful.

My cup runneth over with children and chaos, dishes and laundry, messes and tasks. I know that I should be thankful, but so often I have to admit that I am not. Instead I long for peace and order, quiet and solace. I crave to just be alone in my house, to have opportunity to catch up, to get ahead of the chores without someone following behind messing things back up. I want to have time to quietly reflect with God without someone chattering in my ear. I would love to be able to type a simple post like this without having with a squirmy four year old on my lap. But that is not the way it is. That is not my cup.

I am truly thankful to God for my cup - the place He has brought me in life. I don't desire someone else's cup. Sometimes I just wish it wasn't so tiresome to carry, that it felt more like a blessing than a burden. I know the things that overflow my cup are gifts. Why can't I handle it all better? Why am I exhausted? Am I placing extra burdens into my cup that God never intended for me? How do I recognize those? What part of this balancing act do I let fall. Which things are not eternally significant and should be dropped? I suppose that it is healthy to ask these things. It is good to continually check to make sure we are still on the right path and not become complacent to God's voice in our lives.

So, as the Christmas season ramps up in all of its busy glory, I am stopping to question. Is all that I am doing and participating in actually glorifying to Jesus? It's His birthday we are celebrating here, so it really should be. Are there burdens that I am placing on myself or my family that have no eternal significance? That being said, you may not receive a Christmas card from me. Don't be offended. I just might have decided that family Christmas devotions were a higher priority this year. I have already simplified our Christmas decor this year. I may not even bake a single Christmas cookie. I figure that my family will still have plenty of opportunities to eat them and we will have less temptation to over indulge. Maybe we will bake them in January when we have more time and can let the children do more of it because we are not in a rush to merely get them done and checked off the list.

This morning I am not merely going over my to-do list, but I am praying over each of these items on it and seeking guidance from my Helper to know which are my priorities and which I can just let go. I can't do that on my own; only God knows what is truly important in the long term.

"Jesus...He's the bossiest thing..."

2010-11-06T09:12:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine shared this on Facebook this morning and I wanted to share it here. It is a video of Beth Moore telling a story about listening when God speaks to you. It made me laugh and cry.

I have to admit that there are times I have heard God speaking to my heart to take a particular action and I have ignored Him, talked myself out of it, or made excuses. I tried to tell myself that wasn't God speaking; it was just me thinking that. Because of this I have missed opportunities to be used by God and words cannot express how much I regret that. So, I am praying that I hear God's voice and discern it from my own AND that I have the gumption to obey, even if it is tough.

POIIs...Points of Internet Interest

2010-10-30T05:34:00.019-04:00

My little explorers during a recent geocaching expedition

Here are some interesting sites that I have stumbled upon lately during my internet explorations...

How to Make a Skirt From Men's Ties | eHow.com - Last Spring I noticed one of the other moms in our 4-H group wearing one of these awesome skirts. Since I have an affection for upcycled clothing, I was intrigued. I just stumbled upon this tutorial to make your own.

49 Creative Reuse Ideas That Will Inspire & Surprise You Roundup | Apartment Therapy Re-Nest - A page full of links to various sites with ideas for reusing all kinds of household items. I love to read through the creative ideas. I suppose that is a sign of a true packrat, huh?

Sally's Kitchen: Rice Cooker spaghetti recipe - In my ongoing quest to creatively use my rice cooker, here's another recipe I discovered.

Maps - Old Testament Bible Maps by Generation Word - Here is one for my bible study buddies. This site has relevant maps that correspond to nearly every chapter in the bible. Very helpful!

Pick Up the Pen - Learn to Write! - This site has a bunch of links to help teach the alphabet, penmanship for both printing and cursive. There are many printables, too.

Enjoy your weekend!

Leftover Magic: Seasoned Taco Meat

2010-10-27T11:17:00.001-04:00

Do you eat leftovers? We do - we love them! I even count on them for lunches throughout the week. I am always amazed when I hear that people hate leftovers and just throw them away. I supposed I was just raised that you do not waste food. With the advent of microwaves and quick easy reheating, leftovers are wonderful. I seldom make enough of one dish to get two complete dinner meals out of it, but we can usually squeeze out lunch for me and the kids or pack my hubby's lunch. Just packing a lunch for my husband daily saves a fortune when you consider that he spends $6-7 a day on average if he has to go out and grab something. We can save $35 per week, over $150 per month and over $1800 per year just by packing up leftovers in a container for my husband to take to work with him.

Sometimes, though, I do go overboard and make way too much of something. Although the family may love it the first time around, by the third meal of it, they are crying, "Enough!" Since I have a no-throwing-away-perfectly-good-food-policy, I have to do something. One option is to package leftovers in the freezer to pull out in a few weeks when it will seem new again. Be sure to LABEL things well. I cannot tell you how many times I have hurriedly thrown something in the freezer thinking, "Oh, I'll remember what this is." only to unearth it months later from the back of the freezer with NO IDEA. Sometimes you just have to thaw it to figure out what it is. I suppose if you like adventure, you could just do this and call it a "mystery meal" and no one (including you) knows what's for dinner before it hits the the plates.

Another option for surplus leftovers is to morph them into something else. That is what I am going to talk about specifically here. My son had a birthday a couple of weeks ago and requested tacos for his family birthday party meal. When I do tacos, I usually have enough fixings for hard or soft shell tacos as well as taco salad. The kids love tacos, hubby and I prefer to create a yummy taco salad with lots of lettuce and veggies over corn chips topped with salsa and Italian dressing. I never am quite sure how much seasoned taco meat to prepare, especially when we are having guests. So, I decided to err on the side of too much. I cooked a LOT! It was pretty economical because I used the ground turkey from Sam's Club that I mentioned before along with some ground beef I had in the freezer from Angel Food.

As a side note, I never use those little packets of taco seasoning from the grocery store any more. They are too expensive. You can by taco seasoning in a big container at Sam's Club or Gordon Food service. The container at Sam's club costs on $3.88 and seasons 14 pounds of meat. Compare this to the packet at the grocery that sells for over a $1 and seasons only 1 pound. I find that this is even cheaper that making your own homemade taco seasoning.

Anyway, I ended up have TONS of leftover taco fixings. We ate tacos again the next day and still had lots left. I didn't think that I should push the envelope and eat it a third day, so I decided to get creative. I had bread dough in the fridge which is not uncommon, so I decided to create a stuffed braid. I rolled out a rectangle of bread dough and placed my leftover taco meat, onions, tomatoes and cheese down the center of it. Then I cut 1 in strips along the edges and wrapped these over the top of the filling to create a braid. I realize that is kind of vague. I am a visual person and I need to see images. Unfortunately, I was in a hurry and didn't snap photos of the process. However, this page has a good explanation with pictures. I did take a photo of my finished braid before baking it which you can see here.

I know it looks more like a mummy than a braid. The kids were kind of amused by that fact. Like I said, I was in a hurry because we had someplace to be right after dinner. I didn't snap a shot of this baked, but you can use your imagination. It looked like the before picture only more brown and puffier. Make sense? The verdict was that it was really yummy and it didn't feel like we were eating tacos again.

Believe it or not, we still had taco leftovers the next day. So, we made mexican pizzas. I had some flat tostada shells and topped them with tomato sauce straight out of the can, taco meat, refried beans, onions, and cheese. I microwaved the taco meat first so it would spread better and not clump, so these only needed to bake long enough for the cheese to get toasty. I popped them into a 425 degree oven for about 10 minutes. We topped them off with leftover shredded lettuce and diced tomato. Even though these tasted rather taco-like, it was a fast and fun variation. We had a few of these leftover and ate them cold out of the fridge the next day for a snack and it was even yummy that way. This, by the way, used up all of our taco leftovers.

Other ideas for leftover taco meat:

Chili
Mexican casserole
Sloppy Joes
Tortilla soup
Spanish rice
Enchiladas

There are so many things you can do with this, you may decide to make extra on purpose and do some mega cooking and prepare a bunch of these dishes ahead to freeze. I love having already prepared meals in my freezer on a day when I am overloaded.

Leftovers are a treasure trove in the frugal kitchen. Don't relegate then to the garbage disposal; get creative and use them up.

Tried the Mac'n Cheese!

2010-10-21T15:34:00.000-04:00

Yesterday after lunch I decided to start a double batch of the Rice Cooker Mac n' Cheese that I posted the other day. I didn't have any heavy cream, so I used a combination of half and half and whole milk which I did have in my fridge. To make up the difference in fat content, I added about 3 tablespoons of butter to make sure it was plenty rich and yummy.

Part way through the cooking time, the rice cooker started to sputter and spew liquid out of the vent. Just when I thought that I would have to shut it down to prevent a big mess on the counter, it settled down and cooked just fine. After the rice cooker was done and switched to warming mode, I added the cheeses and salt. I didn't have any mozzarella, so I just used more cheddar instead. After mixing it through, I shut the lid and let it go until dinner.

I was wonderful to have a a big chunk of dinner done and ready ahead of time. I cooked some pork chops and broccoli to go with it for a quick and easy meal. A real bonus was that part of the family wasn't home at dinner time and I just put the meat and veggies in with the macaroni in the rice cooker which kept it warm and ready until they got home. No reheating and nothing was overcooked. Loved that!

Oh, and the mac 'n cheese? It was delightful! It was well received by all, even my macaroni-and-cheese-hating hubby! I am glad to have this recipe in my stash.

I am really falling in love with my rice cooker. (This is the one I have.) It is not a fancy one, but it seems to work like a charm. The other day when I was searching for rice cooker recipes, I noticed the Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook mentioned. I placed it on hold at the library and already have it in my hands. I see many yummy recipes in the future. When I find some winners, I will be sure to share them with you.

Rice Cooker Mac 'n Cheese

2010-10-15T16:57:00.001-04:00

Sounds kind of crazy doesn't it? Who ever hear of making macaroni and cheese in a rice cooker? I found this recipe on a rice cooker thread on the ChowHound site. (It was posted by tbunny27...thanks tbunny!) I am posting this untried, but I wanted to preserve it here for future reference because I fully intend to experiment with this. Here's the thread, if you are interested: Rice Cooker Recipes. I also found another site with a bunch of recipes that sound pretty yummy at Food.com.

Rice Cooker Mac 'n Cheese

1 1/2 cup macaroni of your choice (shells, stars, macaroni etc)
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 up chicken broth/stock
3/4 cup shredded cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup Parmesan
1/4 tspn Kosher/Sea Slat or to taste.
Combine noodles, broth & cream in rice cooker.
When machine switches to warm, add rest of ingredients & stir thoroughly until cheese in melted.
When switches to warm, its done.
The bottom will be browned like in the oven, so you can invert in into a casserole dish and sit back to rave reviews.

We have been making a lot of rice lately due to my daughter's food allergies and stomach issues. She is happiest living on a diet of rice, veggies and fruit. Who am I to argue with that? I have been looking for some ways to spice up plain rice and cooking different grains. My hunt for a Spanish Rice dish prepared in a rice cooker led me to this site. Of course, the mac 'n cheese wouldn't be eaten by my oldest daughter due to the dairy, but the rest of the family would probably enjoy it.

Lessons From Raising a Strong-Willed Child

2010-10-12T08:08:00.000-04:00

I have mentioned before that I have six children. I find it amazing that each one is uniquely different. The characteristics of each of their personalities are unique to one another. Oh, I see a few similar personality traits and they definitely share similar looks, but for the most part they are each their own person. Today, I want to share a bit about my fifth child, Rachel. She is an adorable four year old with crazy, curly blond hair. As with all of my children, I love her more than words can express. BUT, there are days that I do not like her a whole lot. You see, if you took all of the stubbornness of all of my other children and put it one one side of a scale, Rachel would outweigh them with ease. Most days, nearly every little thing she is told to do becomes a HUGE battle. And when she is frustrated and digging her heels in, it usually also means she feels the need to scream at an ear-piercing level (which is especially fun in public...not). Now, every child goes through phases of being strong-willed and having temper tantrums. I have dealt with this before. I have four children before her; I consider myself experienced. However, I am NO match for this fiery tempered little girl! I have pulled every tactic I know out of my bag of tricks. Often, I am at a loss with how to deal with Rachel and throw my hands up in frustration.

One thing for sure is that Rachel has driven me to my knees to seek God's wisdom in parenting her on many occasions. I guess if you look at that, I could consider her personality to be a blessing. She forces me to realize that I can't be her mom on my own. My skills alone are inadequate. I need God's help. So, when I can see the battle lines being drawn, I am trying to remember to stop and pray for God's wisdom and words to help in the situation.

The other day when I was just loving on Rachel giving her a hug, a realization hit me. It doesn't matter how much she battles me, screams at me or how uncooperative she is, I still love her. She is my girl and I can't help but love her. I look into her eyes and see her insecurities and her weakness and I have compassion for her. The amazing thing I realized is that our relationship is a model of my relationship with God. I am His girl. He is my heavenly parent. Often when He asks me to do something, I argue with Him. I stubbornly dig my heels in and choose not to do what I know is right in His eyes. I often choose not to pay attention to His voice and feel like I know the best things for me. Just like I, as a parent have the wisdom of experience and know what is best for my little girl, God is ALL-knowing and knows what is best for me, but often I won't listen. The amazing thing is that He still loves me in that same unexplainable way that I love my little strong-willed girl. In fact, he loves me more even though I don't deserve it. That is what God's love is. It is an amazing thing!

So, if you finding yourself loving your little one or big one or other special person today, remember that God's love for you is so much bigger no matter how you behave. He loves you for just being you.

I feel like a "10"

2010-10-10T22:10:00.002-04:00

Because it is 10:10pm on 10-10-10. Woohoo!