Just Our Thoughts

Well, it's been a while. I am trying to blog at least semi-regularly. Sorry readers. Let's start the week off with a menu. Here, in no particular order, are the meals I plan to serve at our evening meals this week.

• a meal from my freezer
• individual meatloaves (may do two "batches" that same day - one to eat, one to freeze)
• hash brown casserole (crockpot, maybe and one for the freezer)
• spaghetti with sauce (we don't do meat in our spaghetti, but I might do meatballs the same day as I do the meatloaf, since I'll be working with the ground meat anyway)
• creamy lemon chicken / pork (depends on what's on sale - both meat work with the sauce)
• baked bean casserole

I am discovering the benefits of having my freezers full of meals ready to pull out! I am loving it. And the best thing is that I haven't done the meals! A friend of mine had / has some time on her hands and has been making them and delivering them! I have given her some chicken now to help her out and she will be bringing me more this week! I can't wait. Now I am going to continue the trend. When I make a meal I know we like, I'm going to make two and put one in a freezer. This will require a little bit of planning - like having extra containers to bake and freeze in and a few extra ingredients.

The other thing I've been doing has been helping us not to waste as much food. Very often my leftovers go to waste because they rot in the fridge. I bought a bunch (and need to by more) three cup Glad snap lid containers. I have been dividing the leftovers into individual meals and freezing them. They will be great for lunches or for when Mommy really can't do much. I can say, supper is - pick a meal from the freezer tonight. Everyone can have whatever they want from the freezer.

The beginning of the pregnancy has been really hard on me; I've been very tired. I am so thankful for my church family who has stepped up (I would name all those that have helped but there are a lot of them! And they know who they are!!) and has been helping out. The pregnancy and the transition of J going back to work to a job that requires him to be away a lot (often a week at a time) has been rough on us all. We are starting to get into a routine now; well, two routines - one when he's here and one when he's gone.

Anyway, on to other things. I hope you enjoyed the menu ideas and other tips. For more great menu ideas, click on the picture above to go to Laura's blog. Laura hosts Menu Planning Monday on her blog - I'm an Organizing Junkie.

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

We have been studying a bit about the Nile River and so I thought I'd share a picture I found interesting.

One of Dr. Laura's listeners sent this letter:

Spots And Stripes

I wrote this with Dr. Laura in mind because I heard her once say something about marrying an Elephant and getting mad because he couldn't sit in your lap.

SPOTS AND STRIPES
By Patti Woosley

When you marry a Tiger
You gotta love stripes
Cause it's his stripes you will see
when you climb into bed very night
No, you won't ever change 'em
no matter how hard you try
and your Tiger will have stripes
till the day that he dies

But if you married a Leopard
He will always have spots
So you had just better learn
to love what you've got
Cause you won't ever change 'em
no matter how hard you try
and your Leopard will stay spotted
Why would you ask why?

If you fantasize a soft kitten
curling up in your lap
the Porcupine you married
Will never do that
But if you try to change him
you surely will cry
So love your little Porcupine
and kiss the fantasy goodbye

Stop always wanting
What he ain't got
and stop trying to change him
into something he's not
Just be sure that you love him
the way that he tis
Tiger, Leopard, or Porcupine
He is, what he is.



J and I had a conversation along this line when he was home last.

I am not very domestic. I hate cleaning my house in the worst way and do only what I have to. I find very very little joy in it. He hates to come home to a messy house. And so we fight. After one such fight (the last time he was home) he said that he needed to just decide to love me for who I was and not try to force me to change.

For me, I guess my issues with him are his sleeping habits and and the outside fun he gets to do alone (and by fun I mean anything from fire practice to going to the shop to work on his car). I need to accept that he needs (or wants) those things and love him for who he is.

We have tried to change his sleeping patterns to fit with the "real" world and it doesn't work. He really has to try HARD to get to bed before midnight. I, on the other hand, prefer to be in bed between 9 and 10. We are working on allowing that need to be filled. It's hard for me because I like to be with him, so I choose to stay up. I'm recognizing my NEED to get more sleep.

We are trying to find the balance in both situations that works for our family. In the first, what's the "bare minimum" (above what I already do) that he would like done to feel like he's not coming home to a disaster? And in the second, can we be okay with me going to bed earlier and him later and STILL connect in the evening after the children go to bed?

Accepting each other for who we are is a huge thing. Not just in marriages but in friendships too.



Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Gonna think out loud here for a bit.

Now that I'm getting some energy back, I'd like to get back into our routine I had going. Here's what it is:

7:30 me up
8-9 breakfast and clean up, chores if time.
9-10 Tapestry of Grace
10-11 Math, Journal, other misc school
11-12 building a Life (more school)
12-1 lunch, clean up and chores
1-2:30 rest time for all

That leaves the afternoon free for whatever we wanna do. Except for Monday and Thursday. Those two days we have choir / dance.

I want supper DONE by 6 so that we can be in bed by 7 with a story. I really wanna start reading to them at night again. Tonight was nice. I put the littlest two in bed and read to the older three. The youngest two are tired by 7 PM anyway and need the sleep. The older ones need the time with me and with books.

There's no reason this can't work. I'm the boss because J's away so much. There's no reason why I can't have the TV off as much as I like. I don't have it on in the evenings, except for Tuesday and Thursday anyway. Oh, and Friday for Dexter.

If I happen to get up a little later, that should be okay too, because we'll just do a little less schoolwork that day. If I'd follow my Control Journal, I'd really be flying! but currently my Control Journal is under a pile of rubble. My desk is a MAJOR hot spot! I hate it.

And I think I really want to ban the kids from my computer. They seem to make such a mess. I just know it's a great skill and it keeps them quiet for a while! And not fighting. So I need to find a solution there too.

I've been looking at Simple Mom's Daily Docket again. I have a system that I was using that was similar and I was really enjoying. It got covered in junk too though. I need to stop my desk from becoming the hot spots it is!

I have reviews to do too, that I need to plan to get done. Without a plan I do nothing. There are things that J has asked me to do and look in to that I haven't because there's no list anymore.

I use my Google desktop a lot - calendars and to do lists - I guess I just need to use it more. I am thinking of doing Simple Mom's idea of menu planning on Google calendar too. Might do that in the next couple of days.

Okay, enough from me. Thoughts? Comments? Did I light a spark under you? Can I do this? Can you?

Tomorrow's a new day! My sink is almost shiny today! My kitchen is cleaner, my house isn't totally trashed. And we're gonna cut TV and we're gonna get moving again in the direction we want to take, not the direction the river of life just drags us down. I want to move forward with purpose and determination!

Starting with a visit to a friends' home for lunch!


Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Russian Tea

This is my new hot drink. Coffee is not agreeing with my pregnant tummy so we had to find me something else. We modified this recipe from Cooks.com.

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Well, I love my school bus and J just bought a little Citation that's a real "beater". The suburban is basically done. We might be able to get some cash for parts but that would be all. And in the past month, my bus has broken down twice on the way home from the neighboring community. This has resulted in tow charges and the disruption of the lives of two families right around supper time! Not fun.

So what do you do? We are a family with 5 children and another on the way. Come August we will need a 7-passenger vehicle minimum and then if dh is going to come to a function with us, he'll have to bring his own vehicle! That won't be ideal, but it could work for a while. So I'd much rather us find a spacious 8 + passenger vehicle. We need cargo space as well. I like to take a lot of stuff if we go places and I am often picking up a couple weeks worth of groceries at a time.

So our very first step is to pay off the bus. (A friend fronted the money for it and we still owe him that amount.) After that we will start putting away money for a newer, better running vehicle that will hold us all. I've asked for suggestions on my Facebook status and have received many votes. In no order of popularity, they are:

Dodge (Grand) Caravan
Pontiac Montana
Ford Windstar
Honda Odyssey
Chevrolet Venture
12-15 passenger van

DH is still anti-mini van. I don't know what we are going to do. He'd rather grab a couple of large pickup trucks. However that doesn't allow me to take the kids anywhere by myself. I'd always have to have another driver or leave someone behind.

We are researching and looking and searching for the best deal we can find. We don't need another motor to go (we've had two I think) and we don't need the repair charges we have with these vehicles. There's gotta be something better out there for us.



Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Okay, so even though I'm too tired to tidy up the floor and fill the dishwasher, I found enough energy to make a double batch of these brownies. Thanks, Christi at Polka Spot Farm for the easy to follow recipe and excellent directions!


Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Today my husband has a birthday! He turns 34.

I love him so much.


He is a great father and puts his family first. He loves to spend time with us.

I hope that he has a good day today.


Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

One of the elders at our church spoke on the following passage this week.

⁸For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

⁹Not of works, lest any man should boast.

¹⁰For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10, King James Version)

The biggest thing I took away from the message on Sunday was that I was CREATED to be a MASTERPIECE. I need to let my CREATOR shape me into that MASTERPIECE! If I go my OWN way, than I am going against what I was created to do. It is more natural to follow God's will for my life than it is to follow my will.

I want to be a MASTERPIECE!

I want others to see me and my life and praise my CREATOR, GOD!


Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

We've had a good but rough year. We don't know why; we don't know the lesson we are supposed to learn. We don't know if we've got it yet! Things seem(ed) to be looking up. J has a job. We have a vehicle. The kids are learning lots. And then after a good day in town visiting friends, the motor overheated in my bus. I don't know what I would have done, if J hadn't been with us. We ended up having to call the tow truck. While we waited we were getting colder and colder.

However, we were prepared - we had warm clothes and a snack. We had gentlemen stop that were able to keep the traffic going around us. One truck was a work truck that had flashing lights!

And yet at the time, all I could think was, "GOD, WHY??? Why this? Why now? We are just getting on our feet! I thought it was our turn!" Well, once we got home and I got the kids settled and supper made, I got really thinking about the day.

We had a great day visiting with friends. J was with me and I didn't have to deal with it alone. We almost made it home. It could have been a worse issue than what it ended up being. The tow truck owner's wife came and picked up the kids and me! She brought us all home while J waited with the tow truck. We are so blessed with friends here that the situation was made less intense by their kindness.

I truly believe that God has the wheel of our lives and that my dh and I are following HIS will for our family. I believe that whatever comes our way - like me being without a vehicle again or this new baby that's growing in me - God is in control. I believe that He is giving us what He wants us to have. I believe that God is causing us to grow and to be more like His Son. I am excited about that! I am excited to be a better mom, a better wife, a better person. I am excited to see what God will continue to put on our plate. I am anxiously waiting to see what He has in store for me to continue to grow and to serve Him.

The incident this week with the bus was just one of those things that reminded me to continue to leave the wheel in HIS very very capable hands! Here's a song sung by Carrie Underwood.

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Click Here For Images &
Elmo Happy Birthday Pictures

Happy Birthday, Little Wyatt.

I can't believe you are 3 already! You are becoming such a big boy. You chatter away telling Mommy all sorts of stories and tales.

Some of your favorite things are Elmo, Lightning McQueen, Mater, and firetrucks.

I hope you have a wonderful day!


Striving to learn and live God's purposes,