Finger Foods For Kiddos

So these foods are for kids big enough to chew things like raw carrots . . .if your kid isn't to that point, this list is not for you!

~ Cauliflower
~ Jicama, peeled and sliced or cut French Fry style
~ Sweet potatoes, peeled and cut French Fry style
~Bell Peppers in slices
~Cherry Tomatoes
~Cucumber slices;  my kids love them in lime juice with salt

I was surprised that my Little Girl took to cauliflower and tomatoes like they were the best things since ice cream but wasn't as fond of the sweet potatoes and jicama . . .I did have to remember that it is so important to quarter the cherry tomatoes with little people.

And if you're in the mood for something hot, try this:

One or two cans of garbanzo beans ( chickpeas) drained and tossed in olive oil.  Season with salt or seasoning salt.   Bake at 425 for 15 to 20 min.  Check them and when they are starting to be a little brown and crispy turn them.  Cook a little longer until they are mostly crispy.  Serve with whatever sauces your kiddos like with fries.

Enjoy!

An Indian Eggplant Recipe

I'm not Indian and don't really know how to cook the way they do BUT

So the other day I was at the grocery store and saw one of these microwavable dinners.  This one happened to be Eggplant, Indian Style.

I decided to bring it home and try it.  I liked it.

So I did this to see if I could copy the taste somewhat successfully.  I was pretty pleased but since I haven't eaten tons of Indian food you might want to tweak it a bit . . .

1  Eggplant
1 clove garlic
1/2 an onion

Chop eggplant, garlic and onion.  Saute in olive oil until translucent.  Throw some curry and chile powder or cumin in.  Salt to taste.

Add in a can of tomatoes.  I did rotel but I won't do that again as it made it way too spicy for my palate.  But I probably will add some diced jalepenos to the finished produce for my own personal heat.

And throw in a small handful of lentils for texture.

There you have it.  Easy, not expensive and pretty tasty.  I ate mine with crusty bread because I needed the bread to cut the hot but you could probably serve it over rice, too . . .

On Hope

It's still winter here.  The world is covered in a very thick blanket of snow.  I keep reminding myself that I'll get to see tulips and daffodils poke through it soon and that will be glorious.

Today I've taken a few minutes to jot down a few thoughts on hope.  Enjoy!

On Hope

Thank You, God
For Hope

This is what 
Pulses through my veins

It lifts my head
And gives me

The strength 
to start over 

Again and again

Thank you, God
That even though

I will never be
That person who inspires awe

I can be
That person

Who stays the course
And never gives up

Thanks to You
And the Hope

That You and 
You alone Provide

Musings about my Broken Goals. . .

So I guess I'm pretty average.  It turns out that almost everybody starts out all happy and motivated in January and then in February we all give up and go back to our pre-December selves.  Click here to read more about that . . .

Now the article, if you don't really want to read it yourself, basically says that 40% of Americans set New Year's goals.  But only 8% achieve them.

Wow.  There goes a bunch of my guilt.  Yay!

So what gives?

Lots of us aim too high;  and we are vague. 

I want to lose weight and feel better!

Well, okay.  I get that.

But I thought I had an achievable goal.  Get up earlier every day!  How hard is that?

It turns out it is kind of hard.  Here's why.

1.  My husband likes to stay up late.
2.  My 2 year old likes to get up at the same time I do and that ruins the whole point of getting up earlier.  ( Quiet time for mom to read her Bible and Pray and Blog.)
3.  Nobody else cares if I stay in bed or not.
4.  I like my warm bed a lot.  It is SOOOO cold right now.
5.  We all got sick and it is really hard to get up early when your body is screaming for "More Sleep!  More Sleep!"

So now I am re-thinking this goal.

Perhaps I need to go through each one of those five points and refute them. . . numbers 3, 4 & 5 are going to be the hardest ones because if I WANT to achieve this badly enough, if I believe it is a worthy enough goal, I can combat 1 & 2 much more easily . . . I wonder how many people stop their New Year's resolutions and then restart them?  Do I really NEED to get up really early right now?  Is there a different goal I should be pursuing?

I do not want this to be a year of goals set and then not accomplished at my house.  So I did good in January but not in February.  March is right around the corner.  I think I'll get Hubby to sit down with me and do some talking about goals with him . . .after all, he is my better half and he knows what looks good on me . . .habits included!  Here are some goals that CNN suggested.  Seems to make sense.  Click here to read more.

How are you doing out there with your goals?  Your choices in habits?

It's worth thinking about.  :)

~ Jennifer

Writing Rubbish

So if you've visited this blog before you may have noticed that there for a bit I was writing almost daily.

And then I stopped;  I had a good reason.  My two year old decided that she'd get up when I got up and it shot my entire blogging time slot to pieces.

Also, I read somewhere  that almost everybody thinks the same things over and over, like 80 percent of your thoughts are the same thoughts you had yesterday!

I did not want to write the same things over and over everyday because that would mean you, the reader, would be getting a rubbish experience.

I will hopefully be able to remedy these two problems.  If not, I may have to kiss this blog goodbye, which would be a shame as I do enjoy it.

~ Jennifer

Valentines Day with Kids

*  Do Valentines with your Hubby on a night that isn't Valentines if you want to eat out!  Better seating :)

* Candlelight Dinner with the Kids on Valentines Day.  I used my good tablecloth this year and decorations from the Dollar Store.  Super cute and  Dh and I told stories about some of the fun stuff we did with our families when we were kids.

* Draw a bath for your kiddo/kiddos ( if they are still little enough that they bathe together);  I did this for my third kiddo who is old enough to use my fancy lotions and scrubs without abusing them and she loved it.

* Breakfast in bed!  So fun to have a tray brought to you!

*  Make a piece of toast and "glue" a second heart shaped piece of toast to the top of  it with Peanut Butter or Nutella

* Heart shaped foods ( pizza!) for dinner or an all red theme

* Make fourteen paper hearts and write attributes that you love about your kiddos on them.  Stick to their bedroom doors to find that morning!

Remember that it is about making people feel loved,not about spending money.  And maybe stay off of Facebook that day if all the posts about what people got or are doing get to you!

Happy Valentines Day!

~ Jennifer

A Mom's Review of World War Z

I was against this movie as soon as I heard the word "zombie."

I haven't like horror movies since I was a teenager and I spent the night at my friends's house and endured Chuckie.

Bleh.

Hubby knows that I won't do horror and so he didn't ask me to watch World War Z with him.

But after he watched it he, he said he thought that maybe we should all watch it as a family because he felt it was more like Indiana Jones than a horror movie.

So I said "Okay.  If you think it's okay for the kids."

I put my phone in the other room and I focused on this movie so I wouldn't be lost and guess what?  That was a good thing because the beginning of the movie was very important.  It let you know who the main character, Gerry ( played by Brad Pitt) was.

And I was really pleasantly surprised to find out that Gerry was a family man!  And he stayed a family man through the entire movie ( complete with wedding ring)!

His family was an ordinary family.  His wife was a "regular" person with her hair in a ponytail and his girls wanted a puppy and one of the girls had asthma and he had to talk her through an asthma attack.  This was a family that I could relate to . . .

As the movie progressed Gerry continued to do the right thing;  he became a reluctant hero who used his BRAIN, not his brawn, to fight the virus that caused ordinary people to become zombies.

It was a movie that showed my kids that the best way to live is to by loving others and laying our lives down for them.

Gerry was willing to die for his wife and kids and the movie showed that clearly.  But he was also willing to live for them.  When it came down to the wire, he showed courage.

Yay, Brad Pitt.  Good job.  And thanks for not swearing all over the place or being naked.  I don't want my kids seeing you naked.  So thank you.

Also, they made a point of making a woman a hero.  They took a young Israeli soldier and showed her risking her life to save others.

All in all, our family enjoyed it though I will admit that I left and got laundry to fold during some of the more suspenseful moments and my younger child sat by her dad and buried her face in his shoulder whenever it got too scary.  So if you are way sensitive to scary, don't watch it . . .but if you like a good thriller, you'll enjoy this one.

A quick recap of why I liked it:

1.  Family Man
2.  Brains, not Brawn
3.  Positive Portrayal of Women ( Wife was loving, realistic person;  same with the soldier.  Neither was portrayed as a sex object.)
4.  It was all about self-sacrifice for the ones we love
5.  Also, I didn't say this clearly before BUT, the enemy was not the PEOPLE who became the zombies, but the virus that made them sick.  So being a scientist was COOL in this movie.

~ Jennifer

On Faith and Trusting God

So from the title of this blog I'm sure you've deduced a few things about me.

One, I've been diagnosed with Bipolar II.

Two, I am a Mommy.

And three, I have faith.  Or at least I want to have faith!

I am a Christian.  I was raised in church and so I've known about God and Jesus for as long as I can remember.  I still remember my mother reading me Bible stories when I was very small.  I can still remember the picture of the princess  of Egypt taking baby Moses out of the Nile river in one of my old Bible story books.

Mom would read to me and then I'd look at the books and tell myself the stories.

I remember not understanding why everybody in the Bible seemed to have trouble trusting in God when they had problems when He obviously always fixed things.

Now that I am older and have lived a little longer I have seen that things don't always end well, at least not on this earth.  Hubby and I have been through some scary stuff ourselves and we've seen friends suffer badly.
 
I have been having conversations with God about this lately.

You see, I have ideas about what my life should look like.  And I don't think that my ideas . . .that the pictures in my head are unreasonable.  Healthy kids, enough money to pay our bills and spend a little on pleasures such as taking the kids to the pool, over to the National Park, etc . . .nothing fancy . . .

Enough means to go see my parents on a regular basis.  These are the things I want.  Basically, I want stability.  I want to know that everything is going to be "okay".

Some days I get that.  I get that "peace that passes all understanding."

And other days I don't.   There are days when I get up and I feel like the problems are too big.  I mean I have days when I feel like any little thing could make me either burst into tears or blow up in anger.   I usually don't do either of those things, but just feeling like I could is bad enough.  On days like the one I just described I am amazed that I can put on clothes and make-up and go out in public and auto-pilot takes over.

I say "Hi" and "How are you?" and I function pretty well, I think.  I hope.  But when I get home I sigh a deep breath because I made it through because on days like those I pray over every little thing: that the annoying lock on my car will please cooperate.  That the light will just turn green and let me go.  Silly, silly things.  I don't know if "normal" people feel that way or not.  I don't know how much of this is just hormones and part of being a woman or how much of it is being someone who has bipolar OR how much of it is spiritual warfare.  I just don't know.

All I know is that I do my best to combat my physical problems by taking care of myself:  proper sleep, proper food, exercise and my meds.

And I also know that I have to take care of myself spiritually.  No one is going to force me to open my Bible everyday.  No one will sit me in a corner and say "Now write out a prayer.  Do it."  No one makes me turn towards God when I am afraid.

But if I do crack open my Bible when I am afraid . . .guess what happens?  Not every time ( I have had very discouraging times when I tried for a connection with God and nothing happened) but sometimes words  and concepts leap off of the page and comfort me.  

Today's words might comfort you, too.  Now, these are actually not Bible verses but they were in my Bible notes ( Women of Faith Bible, year 2000, page 564)

Build a little fence of trust

Around today;

Fill the space with loving work,

And therein stay;

Look not through the sheltering bars

Upon to-morrow;

God will help thee bear what comes

Of joy or sorrow.

-Mary Frances Butts

Now how about that?  A little fence of trust around today.  And fill the space with loving work.

That is exactly what God calls me to, and you, everyday.  We aren't supposed to spend all day thinking about six months from now or a year from now when something that we might not enjoy MAY or MAY NOT occur.

I have been reading in I Kings 19 about Elijah and how alone he felt and how God came to him as a "still, small voice".  Elijah was ready to die.  He wanted to die.  Life was too hard.  And yet God came to him, comforted him and showed him that he still had purpose for him and also, that he was not alone.  Because besides Elijah there were seven thousand in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal, the false god.

I have to remember that God will come to me, too, when I am wretched and at the end of my rope.  But He doesn't want me to get to that spot.  He wants me to, invites me to trust Him.  To do my day to day duties and leave the problem solving up to Him.  I am to dialogue with Him so I know what's going on . . .yes . . .but I am not to dialogue with Him in such a way that I am telling Him exactly what to do . . .prayer is not to be me telling God how to run my life.

Sometimes it needs to be me just coming to say . . ."Hey, here I am.  Thank you for being You and taking care of me;  and I'm scared and could You just comfort me a little?  Remind me of how things aren't so bad and how stuff turned out really well in the past, actually?  Thank You.  Thank You."

And the days when I take it all and dump it in His lap, those are the days that turn into the stretches where I am more than okay and the dishes get done and the laundry gets done and the kids keep thriving.  And it all starts with a choice to turn to Him.

~ Jennifer

Observations about Toddlers

tod•dler (ˈtɒd lər) 

n.

a person who toddles, esp. a young child learning to walk.

 That is the definition for toddler.  Don't believe me?  Click here!

Well, I thought I had a toddler . . .but perhaps I have a youngster instead.  :)  Anyway, she just turned two not very long ago and I have been making some random observations about my toddler.

I wonder if any of these seem familiar to you if you love a toddler, too.

1.  If I have to drop her off at church nursery or somewhere else,  my toddler is always the most adorable child in the room.

2.  My child loves to be unsupervised in the other room.  Often she will sneak away and I will find her gleefully enjoying the finer things that belong to her dad, mom and siblings.  Which brings me to point number 3.

3.  My toddler LOVES anything with a screen and/or buttons.  TV remotes ( Aaaahhhh!  If I throw them hard enough, the batteries will fly out, too!), iPhones, iPads, laptops . . .all of these sorts of things make her eyes go big and resemble those cartoon characters of yester-year that would be hypnotized and rendered immobile for hours at a time.

4.  But I love it when I see my older kids learning to interact with her.  I'm not sure anything melts my heart quite as much as the light-bulb moment that went off yesterday when big brother realized that he could make her laugh and laugh just by making silly faces and moving his head back and forth so fast that his cheeks wobbled.

5.  It's hard being the grown-ups at times.  Toddlers like to things to be just so and they will melt down in the grocery store if you are out during nap time.  They will poop at the most inconvenient times and tell people things that will turn your face three different shades of red.  But that's okay because they are learning.

6.  And speaking of learning . . .I'm pretty convinced that this age is all about learning.  She's learning independent play.  She's learning manners.  She's learning to come when I call her, to stop when she's told to stop. . .she's learning to love books and learning to sit still when Mom combs her hair . . .

It's the best of times and the worst of times and I am lucky to be a part of it.

~ Jennifer

On Gratitude

Confession:  I found myself in a really bad mood this morning.  I was reminded of some circumstances that make me angry and after spending some time thinking about them, I am tired of that and I want to think about what I am thankful for so . . .

Today I am thankful for:

1.  My Husband.  He is out in the cold and the snow working so our family can keep body and soul together.
2.  The moisture from the snow because it will make things beautiful in the spring.
3.  A garage so that Hubby can park inside and his truck will start.  When he parked on the curb the truck wouldn't start.
4.  My son who was up before I was and had his Bible out.
5.  My house which has a storage area so I can put things away and not look at clutter all day and rooms for three of our four kids.  They love having their own space after sharing for many years.
6.  My daughter's Sunday School teacher who makes Sunday's a special day for her.
7.  The friends I have who listen to what I have to say and encourage me.
8.  The way my oldest daughter expresses gratitude for the things her dad and I do to help her reach her goals.
9.  The way the kids will surprise me by doing things like cleaning their rooms without being told that they have to clean them or the way my son cleaned off the kitchen counters one night before bed without me asking him to clean them off.
10.  I am thankful for God who calms me when I am angry because life is unfair and not beautiful all the time.
11.  I am thankful for friends who stopped by with a basket of goodies for us last week.  I was thankful when they came by but when we found out that Hubby's paycheck was going to be delayed I was doubly thankful.
12.  I am thankful that the kids love to hang out with their family.  We sat around and played games last week and they all seemed to really enjoy it.
13.  I am thankful that my husband will cook for us . . .I started a batch of potato bread dough last week and he took over and deep-fried up quite a bit of it.  He also made a dip out of sour cream, cream cheese and garlic salt that we ate with it.  That was our supper and it was so good.  We just stood around the island in the kitchen and inhaled it.  Yummy!  Last night he made fried rice for us and again, we just inhaled it because it was so good.  His style of cooking is different than mine and it is a treat when he cooks for us.
14.  I am thankful that my third child motivates me to exercise even when I have no desire to get moving!
15.  I am thankful for good memories, even though I tend to gravitate towards the negative ones.
16.  I am thankful for a new day, a clean canvas, if you will.
17.  And just for all the things I take for granted every day . . .even if my things are old and worn, I HAVE those things.  Some people don't have multiple pairs of shoes or jeans.  They just don't.  I am thankful, even if my stuff isn't as cool as some of the stuff I see on other people.  That's okay.  It works.  :)

A Rant on Being Responsible

The whole point of being an adult is that you are now a "responsible" individual.

You are responsible to figure out how to make enough money to live.

If you do something illegal, you are held accountable.

If you reproduce, guess what?  YOU are responsible for that new life.

And I believe you are responsible to society, too.  You should be a good example to the small people around them so that when they grow up THEY, too, are responsible adults.

Today I was looking through my Facebook account when a picture of a cartoon girl taking her shirt off popped up.  The bottoms of her breasts were clearly visible, not the nipples, but the bare bottoms and it was obvious that she wasn't wearing any panties even though no pubic hair or anything below that was showing.

It really made me angry because the "man" who liked that drawing made it show up not just on my feed but also on my kids feed.  Not cool.

I am trying my level best to raise my kids to "guard" their hearts.  I expect them to see/hear stupid stuff from their peers and I have tried to talk to them about that.  But I do not want them to see/hear it from the adults in their lives.  Those people should know better or I should do a better job of who my kids are around.   Why does my 13 year old boy need to see that and get it stuck in his head?  He can't have sex right now.  He doesn't need a almost forty year old man putting that stuff out there for him to see.

Possible Trigger to follow:







Everybody has their "soap" boxes.  One of mine is pornography.  This is because one of my best friends married a guy who was addicted to pornography  ( she didn't know he had this problem when they got married and to be honest he probably didn't think he was that big of a deal, either) . . .but it was a REALLY big deal.

And then another kid I knew got addicted and that was a big ugly deal.

And just yesterday I read about an eight year old girl who was raped by her 13 year old brother who was exposed to pornography at a friends house.  He thought that his sister would be a good person to try what he'd seen out on because she was smaller than him and couldn't fight back and because she was young and probably wouldn't really remember it anyway.  Sickening.

So this is why I get so angry about people treating something like this like it is nothing.  Because it is, actually a very big something.

~ Jennifer

Exercising with Kids

First, let me just say that my favorite way to exercise with my kids is by going outside and doing things like horseback riding, hiking and swimming.

That said, I don't own a horse and only get to do that when we're lucky enough to visit family with horses AND it is so terribly cold here right now that hiking is out of the question . . .swimming would be lovely but again, terribly cold here and not practical at all.

So what's a Momma to do?

This is what we've been doing lately since we are stuck in the house.

We set the timer for five minutes and during those five minutes we stretch.

Next we set the timer for ten minutes and we go downstairs and run around the basement, back and forth until we've run back and forth 10 times.

Then the girls hold my feet and I do fifteen sit-ups.  This is an improvement from the ten sit-ups that I originally struggled with!  Then I hold my daughter's feet and she does her 25 sit-ups.

Next we do jumping jacks and after that we run stairs . . .by this time we are feeling a little winded.

Just to mix it up we've been researching other things to do and I like the idea of jump ropes.

It seems like everyday we come up with something new.  Today our toddler brought us a stuffed animal and we invented a game where  we threw the toy back and forth, but we had to jump either before or during the throw.

Really, a lot of exercising with kids is trying to make it fun and change things up.

My daughter really likes competing, either against me or herself.  She broke her sit-up record today and will probably add another one or more on tomorrow.

Another thing that makes me really smile is a page that I stumbled on the day before yesterday.  The author of this blog found 45 days worth of free exercise videos and so E and I tried the first one yesterday.  We didn't do the whole thing but it was fun to do something that I felt like I could do in the privacy of my home that I wouldn't want to do anywhere else because I'm quite sure I wasn't doing it nearly as fluidly as the leader!  And since my navel isn't all flat and glittery . . .well, that also made me really glad I was doing this in the privacy of my home . . .still quite nice to have someone telling me what to do instead of me trying to come up with moves on my own!

Click on  THIS!! to see what I'm talking about.

If I come up with more great ideas I'll be sure to let you know.

Now that's it for this entry.  I hope you and your kiddos like moving together, too.  It's so good for everybody!

~ Jennifer

Getting Back in the Groove ( Hopefully!)

If you want to see your plans derailed, invest in a toddler.

This morning I set my alarm so I'd get up early.  But I had this little girl snuggled up beside me and I could not get out of bed without her waking up all the way . . .so I told myself that as soon as she went back to sleep I'd get up.  Because, after all, getting up with a crabby toddler would completely defeat the purpose of a nice, quiet time to read my Bible, pray and blog.

I got a much later start to my day than I'd planned!  I'm having to choose not to get angry, panicky, etc.  I don't know what it is about my personality but I really enjoy being able to make lists, do what is on the list and cross it off and I can get really annoyed when someone gets in the way of my lists.

And that someone these days is my toddler.  My toddler is the Queen of Interruptions.  She is super cute, though and that does count for something.  This morning after I got her back to sleep I fell asleep, too.

I woke up to her "Get up!  Get up, Mommy!"  She brought me a book to read to her.

Then she went and got a diaper, but as soon as her old one was off she flipped over so I couldn't put the new one on her and then jumped up and ran around the room, laughing when she finally came back and I threw a blanket on her . . .she just wanted to play.

We came out to the kitchen and got some breakfast going . . .she wasn't really interested in the REAL breakfast and wanted leftover doughnut glaze that we still haven't tossed after the Super Bowl party.  Sissy fixed her some chocolate milk in her sippy cup and she promptly spit a big puddle onto the floor for the dog to lick up.  Then she reached up and unplugged the toaster that is plugged into the side of the island.

And then it was time for me to take off her dress because it had chocolate milk on it.  Imagine that!

The funny thing is this . . .I know that I was on a roll a month ago and somehow checking off my list. So how do I get back in the groove?

I think I'll do it this way:

You see, the girls and I are sitting at the table and they are drinking tea from fancy teacups while I type.  So in a minute I'll be done with this and I will . . .

1.  Talk to them about our goals for the day.  I will explain that I want the house to look nice when Dad gets home from work tonight and that I need everyone's help.  We'll pray before we go about the day.

2.  I will have E go to her room to start on school.  I will see if I can talk Little Girl into wearing more clothes because I feel cold just looking at her!  She wants to run around in her diaper all the time and BRRRRR.  It looks SO COLD.

3.  I will look at my morning routine list and cross off the first few items! Yay!  I have already eaten breakfast, gotten dressed and done my devotions.

4.  I will set the timer for 15 minutes and turn on KLOVE and start to empty the dishwasher.   I will probably need to have Little Girl help me empty the dishwasher.  We'll need to count forks, etc.

5.  Just continue.  Continue, continue.  Switch between cleaning & intentionally interacting with the kids ( checking schoolwork, exercising with the girls, etc.)

6.  Be really happy when the list is all crossed off or the big kids get home, whichever happens first.

7.  This will be easier to do if I sign out of Facebook for the day!  Same with other social media sites, lol.

I hope you gets lots done today if that is what you need to do.  And if you need a down day, that is okay, too.  Take care of yourself!

Love,

~ Jennifer

My "Morning Routine" Page

I have blogged before about Flylady and how much I love her.  She just makes the idea of keeping the house clean seem so matter of fact and doable!

To get a look at Flylady's morning routine, click here.

Now, if you want to look at mine,  inspired by the Flylady, here it is.

Actually this is not a "Morning Routine".  It's a

"Before the Kids Get Home from School" Routine

Devotions
Breakfast
Dressed to Shoes
Make Bed
Empty Dishwasher
Do Laundry
Check Calendar
Dinner planned?
Drink Water, Take Vitamins
Declutter for 15 Minutes
Exercise for 15 Minutes
Dress Little Girl

PLUS

Check to make sure E has done all her school for the day.
Get down on the floor with LG for a bit every day ( blocks, make believe, etc.)
Read Aloud to the girls
Somehow figure out proper devotions to do with both girls . . .

I spent some time this morning thinking about how I had been doing great with the first part of the list but awful with the second half when I did the first half.  When really, some of those things on the second part of the list are more important.

I need more energy.  I am so tired these days.  Arrghhh.  Stop drinking coffee and eating sugar, Jennifer!  You know you'd feel better!

Ttyl,

~ Jennifer

On Perimenopause

So this past week I was feeling just awful.  As in I spent most of Saturday doing nothing even though I knew we were having people over on Sunday for the Super Bowl party and normally I'd be cleaning and prepping food like a manic.

But I HURT.  It felt like sharp, rolling pains in my abdomen.

Finally I decided to do some googling.  I have always been one of those people who found her period inconvenient, but not painful.  But in November the days before my period were a definite pain.  And in December I thought that if the pain didn't subside I should probably call my doctor and see if there was something seriously wrong.

Now it's the tail end of January and so this is what I typed in "painful periods as age increases"

This is what I found:  click  here

Oh. My. Goodness.

If ever there was a reason to exercise and eat right, I think I've found it!  Holy smokes.  Who knew?

Now as for WHEN this happens, click here

Click here to see what Dr. Oz has to say about perimenopause.

And what if my period doesn't come after all this annoying pain?  Well, I found a link on that, too.  Click here

So I guess there's a lot more to aging gracefully than getting myself a red hat and purple sweater.

Add bipolar to the mix and it gets even more confusing. . .

I guess my game plan is to exercise, take fish oil, take a good multi-vitamin for women and start working on learning nutrition a little better.  That last one is hard!

Have a great day and good luck figuring this out if you are in the midst of it!

~ Jennifer

Note to Self when Sick

Perhaps the most comforting thing that I can remember when I am feeling down is this:  you are sick.   When you are sick, you aren't operating the way you want to be.

And I need to remember that it's okay to be sick and it's okay that I am not always operating the way I want to operate.

Our worth as human beings is not dependent on what we can produce.  I believe God gives us a desire to "do" things, but He doesn't love us based on how clean the house is, or how awesome our cooking skills are . . .

Again and again in the Bible we see that God has a soft spot for hurting, down and out sorts.  Just today I read about the woman who washed Jesus's feet with her tears.  She had a TERRIBLE reputation.  And yet she had love and that was what was most important.

When we are feeling terrible and maybe we don't understand why and we can't understand why we can't just make ourselves go through the motions and "feel" better . . .maybe we need to step back and realize that perhaps there is something more going on than meets the eye.

Usually with me I get through that time and I realize that I was under a lot of stress or that it was just before my period or something to that effect.  And once again I realize that it was a temporary thing, too, and not worth me beating myself up over.

It's amazing how much I CAN accomplish when I feel good . . .and amazing how little when I don't feel good.

So here's to you,  no matter if you are feeling good or not today.  I hope you are kind to yourself and remember that your worth is not in your accomplishments.

~ Jennifer

Random observations about Mental Illness

Just a few observations about mental illness in general.

One, it is different for everybody.  Some people get irritable and violent and scare the pants off of other people.  Some people just withdraw to the point that you'd swear you'd done something to offend them ( I do that).

Two, people with mental illness are not just people with mental illness.  I don't think I can say this enough.  Mentally ill people teach, they are engineers, they are inventors.  They go to church with everyone else.  They shop in the same stores.  They have kids and they love those kids and they are soccer moms.  They are business owners and they are the nice people who reach out to us when we move into a community.  They may also be the weird guy who make everyone nervous.  That's just the truth of it.  But most people tend to think that mentally ill people are only weird guys living on disability.  Not true.

Three, mental illness is a chronic condition.  It's been eight years since I was first diagnosed with bipolar II.  I didn't want to believe the doctor when he told me I'd always live with this.  In fact, I spent a long time med-free,  believing that MAYBE he was wrong.  When I finally had another episode my new therapist kindly told me that 100 percent of mentally ill people go off of their meds at one point or another.  It's just too overwhelming to believe that this is a FOREVER thing sometimes.  Just too much.  It takes a while for it to sink in.  For me I finally decided that I'd be med compliant when my youngest baby was just a few months old and I realized that if I didn't take my meds and work at being well she would never know the same mommy that her big sisters and brother knew.

Four, mental illness is an isolating condition.  It isolates in a couple of different ways.  One, it carries a stigma and so it is hard to open up to other people and tell them about your condition.  And two, it takes a lot of energy to fight the illness sometimes and that means that while you as a person are trying to keep your head above water, you are ignoring other things . . .like friendships, like a career you might have been trying to build or a project that you'd hoped to complete.

Are there any good things about mental illness?  Maybe.  Come back, say tomorrow.  I'll think about that and see what I can come up with!

Menu for Week of Feb 3rd through the 8th

I thought I'd take a few minutes and post a weekly menu here:

Monday:  Meatloaf & Potatoes
Tuesday: Leftovers OR Fried Rice
Wednesday:  Tacos
Thursday:  Black Bean Chili
Friday:  Chicken Enchilada's
Saturday:  Spaghetti
Sunday:  Pot Roast

Most of these recipes are "in my head", but I still haven't memorized the Chicken Enchilada one yet!

To check it out, click here.  This is one of those great recipes to bring to church potlucks.  People love these enchiladas!

Meatloaf is easy enough to make.  Hamburger, eggs, oatmeal or bread crumbs.   Chopped onions, too.  I like it to be not too soupy, just a good consistency to form into a loaf. . . Mix it with some ketchup and mustard, salt and pepper or if you prefer, BBQ or a difference sauce.  Make twice what you'll eat for supper that night and then you can slice it and have it in sandwiches the next day.

My hubby never put meat in his fried rice, just eggs, peas and carrots with plenty of soy sauce.  It is an inexpensive but yummy meal.

Tacos.  We don't "do" lettuce and fresh tomatoes.  We put a can of black beans in with the meat to stretch it and that makes it cost a little less per meal.  You can also throw some rice in with the taco meat to stretch it.

Black bean chili . . .basically, my Hubby doesn't like kidney beans, so I put about 2 small cans of black beans in with one small can of tomatoes.  I add that to my browned burger ( about a pound, with onions and chopped garlic and chili powder).  My family loves it with sour cream and cheese on top.

Spaghetti . . .I must admit that I this is my "lazy" meal.  Sauce from a jar, noodles from a box, bread from the store.  Do I get points for using real butter?  :)  And making a salad?

The roast, I have learned, is best if I brown in on all four sides in my cast iron skillet and cook it in said skillet with an envelope of onion soup and water about halfway up the side of the roast.   I know . . .not healthy, but it is yummy!  It is easy to put potatoes in a crock pot to cook while the roast cooks, too.

And that's it from me today.

My toddler is  being uber fussy today.  If it wasn't for big sister I wouldn't have gotten this thought about and typed up . . .thus my recent absences.  I hope some of these sound good to you!

~ Jennifer

One of "Those" Days . . .and Why I Call My Friends Every Now and Then

I knew it was going to be one of "those" days before I even got out of bed this morning.

For one thing, I had to be up late and then get up early . . .never a good sign.

We have some bills to pay that we can't pay right now.  Hubby was supposed to get paid on Monday but a client complained and so Hubby won't get paid until Boss gets a chance to look at the work and see if the client has a valid complaint or not.  I, obviously, don't think so.  Hubby does this kind of work all the time and is good at what he does.  But the point is, no dinero for us until this issue is resolved.

I have to take our son to the doctor today.  He was playing a little too rough with some of his classmates and got pushed to the ground hard enough that it broke his collarbone.  Really!?!  I mean, really!

The unfairness of it all welled up in my throat this morning and great waves of despair wanted to sweep over me.  I tried to call a new friend here.  No answer.  I tried an old friend from years ago.  No answer.

Now there is a reason I tried to call them . . .and I'll get into that soon . . .but first, let me tell you more about my day . . .

I settled for trying to do my dishes and then when Littlest didn't appreciate the gesture I sat and looked at books with her.

And oddly, the phone rang.  So while I talked to the new friend I got the rest of the dishwasher loaded!  Yay.

And then after that I was so tired but I thought that maybe I should have a snack.  I did.  I lost my motivation and drive.  I started reading a book on my kindle that is quite fluffy and I already know exactly how it will end . . .but that's okay.  I still want to see the main character succeed, if you know what I mean.

And then the phone rang.  It was my "old" friend calling.  She talked to me long enough for me to get a load of laundry folded and put away and another started.

Yes, talking is truly great.  It lets me be two people.  The hands that do and the brain that is elsewhere engaged.  It is a beautiful thing.

Does it work that way for you?

Here's hoping you aren't having one of "those" days!

Love,

~ Jennifer

Goals for the Week of January 26th - Feb 1, 2014

So here goes, in no particular order

1.  Get back into the "getting up at 7" pattern;  fell off the wagon due to being sick.
2.  Write a note to the sweet couple from Mom and Dad's church who are facing a very difficult diagnosis ( probably Lou Gehrig's in him)
3.  Find a card for my Grandma's b-day
4.  See if I can figure out how to print pictures off of my iPhone at Walgreens
5.  Start up with the basic morning routines as outlined on Flylady's website ( again!)
6.  Call or email 3 local people . . .working on building my friend network here.  Proving to be a challenge!  Also, call my far-away friends who have been on my heart . . .
7.  Get new tags on the car
8.  Make sure Firstborn has everything she needs for her trip out of town this weekend!
9.  Be kind to self as my list looks way less awesome than some lists I've seen :)
10.  Intentionally look for the good and praise it.

Of course there will be more going on at this house ( like meal planning and prep!) but this is a good start . . .

Good luck to all of you as you start your week!

Love,

~ Jennifer

Talking to Kids about Suicide

The other day I was driving my oldest daughter somewhere while we ran errands.  We were discussing some of the speeches that she'd been watching at her last speech meet.

Some of those speeches deal with some pretty heavy topics, like rape and parental abuse.

Firstborn made this observation "But you know what, they never make it to finals.  It doesn't matter how good they are, they never make it to finals."

Together we talked about why . . .and came to this conclusion  "Nobody wants to hear about that stuff."

Well, that's the way it is with suicide.  Nobody wants to hear about suicide.  I don't even want to blog about it.

So why am I?

Because it happens.  And because my kids are old enough to hear about it and comprehend that suicide is a thing.

So I talked to some people that I know who have been diagnosed with mental illness and of course, with that diagnosis is the tendency towards suicidal thoughts/urges when things go south.

And this is what they said to me, basically:

Let your kids know that there is help out there.  Get them to professional help.

Let them know that they are not alone.

Let them know that they can talk to you without fear that you will reject them if they let you see inside of them, how wretched they feel, how they are not living up to the standards that they know you want them to be living up to . . .

Let them know that you are there for them, that you are on their side.

One of my more colorful friends who actually works with teens as a resource person in her local school used some great wording

It's (mental illness is) an illness that is life threatening but IS NOT IN CHARGE! 

Suicide is always a choice, but it is the final choice. I'm sure we've all heard that at some point. But sometimes, it helps for kids to talk so someone they can't shock and to acknowledge that suicidal elephant in the room! It becomes much more an Us against the illness feeling rather than the kid being my do-good project.  

The more I think about it . . .and this is what I said to my daughter the other day . . .suicide happens when someone is in so much pain that they just want that pain to end and they can't think of any other way.

Suicide doesn't mean that a person is "crazy" or deficient in some way.  It means they are in a place where they need help fighting the illness.

I was really shocked this week when I heard about an old friend who had done something really horrible and out of character and then taken his own life.  He was a leader and a family man and someone that everybody loved.

And yet, apparently, he changed about nine months ago;  quit his job and began acting quite differently than he'd acted for the previous twenty years.  And it ended with him slumped over the wheel of his car, no longer able to be helped by anyone.  His last choice was a final choice, whether he realized it or not at the time.

Sounds like someone who was in a great, great deal of pain to me.  And maybe he didn't know where to go for help.  Where DO you go for help when everyone is looking to you to help them?  Where do you go?

I'll tell you where my friends who are still living after trying to commit suicide went:  to the doctor.  To the psych ward.  And you know what?

I wouldn't even know they'd ever been there if they hadn't told me.

And these are amazing people.  These are professional people, people who travel the world, people who write books,  create awesome jewelry,  and teach classes.  These are people who give television interviews and cook gourmet meals.

These are people who inspire me and make my life better because I know them.

Suicide.  It's an option, yes.  But it's the final option and I vote for HOPE, instead.

Hang
On
Pain
Ends

Love to all of you,

~ Jennifer

Choosing to Be Thankful Even Though This Wasn't The Best Day Ever

I am posting this early because I am sick and I don't anticipate blogging tomorrow.

I'll be playing "catch-up" with cleaning up the kitchen.  I made chicken and rice soup.  There's a mess in the kitchen but I'm just not up to cleaning it.

No one else in the family is up to cleaning the mess up either.

My three youngest kids are sick and my firstborn is totally worn out from a crazy week of rehearsing for a play she's in this weekend.

It was freezing today.  Poor Hubby worked outside in this all day long . . .the windchill was awful.

I would like to have some really great insight but no . . .

All I can say is this  "kids feel better when you serve them their get-better honey tea in honest to goodness tea-cups."

And people won't always eat your chicken soup but . . .they'll remember you cooked for them.

And it is really impossible to load a dishwasher and hold a sick toddler at the same time so . . .

You want to hear something funny?

I felt loved today because Hubby keeps my side of the garage clean so I can always park inside.  Yay!

And I also felt loved when I went outside and felt the frigid air and knew that he was outside working for me and the kiddos.  It was awful weather today!

I didn't ask him to clean for me because I know he's totally beat, too.  A different kind of beat, but still.

Talk to you all Later.

~Jennifer

Let's Make a Memory . . . No, Lots of Memories!

So this weekend Hubby packed us all up and we went for a drive;  five hours from our semi-warm town to the mountains . . .

It was beautiful.  There was snow and there were Evergreens with thick blankets of snow and a river running beside the road.

There were distant mountain peaks that turned pink as the sun was setting and there were close meadows where Hubby spotted elk bedded down.

I drank it all in.  I was happy as a clam.  I loved driving through the towns that really aren't so far from me but I've never seen them before because we are new to this part of the country.  

This is the West.  This is where old barns sit snugly in meadows and listen to the mountains sing them to sleep at night.  This is where horses frolic, cows live a life that I envy and where wildlife bigger than my German Shepherd is common.

This is where people in boots and fringed leather live.  This is the West.

I myself have roots in the Midwest.  I will always love it best.  But loving the prairie was what gave me eyes to see the beauty in the islands and the ocean and the now, the mountains.

If you're reading this and thinking that I am a one of those people who goes around with a Maria Von Trapp style smile, swirling about in ecstasy in nature, you're wrong.

Yesterday, when I picked my oldest up from school she looked over at me and said "Mom!  Is this a sarcastic text!?!"

What! Me?  Yes, honey.  But be glad because I'm only sarcastic when I'm in a good mood . . .seriously, when I get depressed I withdraw and don't say much at all.

What you just read, that description of our trip, is an Intentional Memory.

You see, when we got back from the trip on Sunday evening I was thinking about it and I was thinking things like this:

I wish it hadn't been so cold.

I wish we had eaten at that restaurant that I heard someone else raving about AFTER we ordered our just-ordinary, over-priced food.

I can't believe that I lost my favorite boots.

I started to realize that I was absolutely ruining my memory of this trip.  And if I said those things out loud,   I'd ruin the memory for my Hubby and my kids, too.

So when I talk about it, I'm going to talk about things like this:

Wasn't it awesome when we rolled the windows down and you guys "tasted a cloud" for the first time!

I always try to credit people with concepts, but I can't remember who came up with this one . . .it's not new to me, but I want to remember it always:

We remember what we want to remember.  We can remake the past by choosing what we dwell on.

It's so true.

I remember an unfortunate person that I know telling me about a get together with her husband's side of the family.  She told me, in front of her mother-in-law, how miserable she was.  How she felt out of place, how everyone else fit into the family and knew their roles, but she was new and didn't know what to do.

Her mother-in-law was speechless.  Later she said to me:  "But she had such a good time!  I watched her play the piano and sing!  She jumped right in there.  But then she went back and talked with her mother and they rewrote that whole experience in their heads."  The mother-in-law shook her head sadly . . .and you know what?  That marriage didn't last too long, either, which was too bad for everyone.

According to some sources we think the same thoughts over and over . . .98% of our thoughts are the same as what we thought on yesterday!  80% of most people's thoughts are negative!  Click here to learn more about that.

So if you're like me and so many other people . . .one of those people who defaults to negative . . .let's choose together to default to positive.  Let's be intentional about the memories we are making.  It's a God thing, you know . . .

Philippians 4:8 NIV

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.

So go on and make a memory today!  And as life goes on,  lot's of memories.  Good ones.

~ Jennifer

Not Giving Up My Habit ( Even Though I Want To Some Days!)

Sometimes goals don't really seem that important;  resolutions that you made in January start to seem, well, not worth it come February.

I am at that point right now.

It seems like when I get up early my toddler gets up early, too.  And cries until I come and lay with her and she goes back to sleep.  That seems to defeat the purpose of getting up early!

So what to do?  Get up earlier?  Would that work?

Then I'm cutting into evening time with the family.  And yet I know that more important than anything is else is my relationship with God.  Granted, that happens all day long.  But I give it a place of honor by making it FIRST thing in the morning.

And so I'm going to press on.  I'm going to ask Hubby to help me get to bed earlier.

I'm still going to get up when the alarm clock goes off, even if I have to lay back down with my fluffy headed toddler for a few minutes.

I am going to go ahead and read my Bible and journal, even if I have a toddler scribbling on her paper at the table beside me and a ten year old eating a bagel on the other side and its hard to concentrate.

I am going to remember the good.  My house looks way better now that I have started getting up earlier.  You wouldn't think that would make a difference but somehow it does.

I have started couponing a little bit . . .I know that I saved $14 alone this week and last week just in CVS Extra Bucks on stuff that I would have bought us anyway.

I have also started to write out my meals for the week and get the ingredients so that I don't have to stand in front of the pantry and try to throw something together.  That's comforting.  I know that in a few minutes I'll go out to the kitchen and throw some frozen chicken, half a packet of taco seasoning, some lime juice and some cilantro in the crockpot and we'll have Lime Cilantro Chicken tacos for  supper . . .with next to no effort from me.

So this getting up early thing is good.  It's good to feel like I am living with intention.  And if it doesn't always feel good when I roll out of bed . . .well, it doesn't always feel good when a runner is only halfway through the race, either!  Or a student is only part way through writing a research paper.

But when it's all done, it feels really good.  And so it is with establishing this habit.

Good luck to you with YOUR habits, too!

~ Jennifer

Notes from a Couponer Wannabe: Part Three

We got to go on a little road trip this weekend!  Super fun!  We went up into the mountains and they were all covered in snow.  Unfortunately the only wildlife we spotted was of the two-legged variety, but maybe another time.

So anyway, that kind of pushed my couponing planning back a little bit.

BUT here's what I am planning to do this week.

On Couponing

Click here to see the site that explains about CVS and which coupons to pair with what sales.

1.  Basically it works like this:  buy a Sunday paper.

2.  When the different Coupon Divas ( such as Crystal from Money Saving Mom and Erin from 5 Dollar Dinners) post their coupon formulas on Facebook,  find the coupons in your stash from the Sunday papers and clip them.  If they are printable coupons, it will probably say so and you can search for them and print them.

3.  Take to the drugstore the coupons that the Divas have mentioned, find the proper brand.  Buy enough to get the CVS Extra Bucks if you are at CVS and there, you did it!  You saved money!  Yay!

My first time trying this was with diapers.  I had to buy $30 of diapers to get $10 in CVS bucks.  I didn't realize that they had to have the little CVS Extra Bucks sign above them to get the deal.  I thought I was buying Pampers because I had a coupon for them.  Nope.

But it was a learning experience.  Yesterday Firstborn needed eyeliner so I told her we'd go to CVS and use the Extra Bucks to buy it.  Without our $10 Extra Bucks it would have been about $13.  So I spent $3 out of pocket for two eyeliner pencils.   BUT they were running a Extra Buck deal Buy $12 worth of Maybelline Eye Makeup, get $4 in Extra Bucks.  So I actually had a $1 leftover if you think in terms of Extra Bucks being cash.

But I had to ask for my Extra Bucks.  They didn't actually come up on their own.  Still.

Not bad.  Not bad.  :)

Have fun with this!

~ Jenn

PS:  If you are new to this, couponing can be overwhelming.  I mean . . .to me, it's a bit like exercising.  You don't just jump in there and do everything that the experts do on your first time out.  It takes awhile to get those pathways in your brain created . . .the ones that "get" exactly what's going on.  It is definitely a skill!  But that's the great thing about our brains!  They were made to adapt and learn new things!  So I am going to press on.  :)

How My Goals For Jan 12 - 18th Turned Out

At the bottom of this post is my first ever "to-do" list of personal goals for a week;  I think I did pretty good with it.

I do think that maybe I was overly ambitious.  I kind of got on a couponing/meal-planning tangent.  I ended up finding a site about taking survey's for money and was very excited that I racked up $5 dollars in just a few minutes.  Then I realized I had to do $30 before I could GET my money.  But Secondborn needed help with Algebra and I couldn't do both . . .poke around on the site and help Secondborn.  So maybe that won't be an option for me, but if you want to check it out, click here.

I don't know if I am going to have "blog" goals this coming week.   Honestly, I am happy if my blog helps other people and I hope it does but I don't really enjoy playing around with formatting and such ( I wish I DID enjoy that because I like looking at other people's "pretty" blogs) and even though it would be nice to earn money off of my blog . . .I think I need to concentrate on just making sure I have the time to write on a regular basis right now!

Also, trying to do extra stuff kind of derailed my MAIN objective, to get up early every day in January.  I got worn out and even though I woke up at seven I didn't get out of bed on Sunday morning or this morning ( Martin Luther King Jr. day . . .kid's don't have school).   Not getting up early also messed with my keeping the house in order which makes me sad.  I like having a clean kitchen smiling at me when I get up early.

The truth is, Hubby also likes me to have extra time to do things with him.  Twice this week he asked me to go out with him in the evening to check out sales on items we need.  And this weekend he took the kids and I on an impromptu road trip to pick up work supplies.  It was to a pretty part of the country that I've never been to and I loved going but it did mess with my getting up in the morning as we stayed up late at the hotel swimming in the pool . . .

So being out late several nights did mess with my getting up early.  And not getting up early seriously messes with my quiet time and blogging time.  I can do it with the kids around but it is not nearly as enjoyable.  I end up having to stop every two or three minutes and say things like "Littlest!  You can color on paper, but not on the floor."  Then I go get a rag, hand it to her and teach her how to clean up the mess.   Then she cries and I comfort her.  You can see how this is less than ideal for any kind of thinking activity, lol.

So, basically, this is my conclusion about this week's goals:

Less Goals.  Do Better With the Ones You Choose to Do.  Remember that People are More important that Things and be Thankful that Your People want you around!!!

And I am not going to go look at other people's goals this week or I will feel bad about mine.  Not a good thing.  I have compared myself to people in other areas and felt like this:  I won't even try XYZ project because I can never be as good as So and So!  Never!  So what's the point?

So this week's goals are

1.  Get up at or before 7 every day all week
2.  Use either Ibotta or Checkout 51 on your grocery receipt
3.  Shop at CVS using my CVS extra bucks and buy make-up for self and daughter. Hopefully        they'll have some on sale!
4.  Make a meal plan before going grocery shopping;  look in fridge to see what you already have and plan around that.
5.  Make sure to quiz Thirdborn every day on her spelling words in preparation for the upcoming spelling bee.
6.  Go to Flylady's site and read about routines.  Try to find something there to implement into my life.
7.  Call a potential friend.  Have her over for coffee.  Talk to Hubby about a potential Super Bowl party and who we could invite.
8.  Reserve Ann Voskamps book, One Thousand Gift's from the library.  Click here to see more.  :)

The List that Was Too Much from Jan 12 - 18th

My Personal List

1. Go to the Library & Find Books On

~  Goals

~ Home Money Management

~ A Random Book

~ Gratitude

~ Relationships

~ Blogs 

2. Research Flylady for Guidance on Weekend Cleaning/Extra cleaning beyond Morning Routine

3.  Spend 30 minutes working on menu planning

4.  Spend 30 minutes working on how to use coupons
5.  Buy a Sunday Paper.  Look for coupons you'd like to use on Sunday Afternoon

Marriage/Family

1.  Bring the Windows into the House.  Talk to Hubby about where to hang them.  Look for appropriate pictures to go behind the windows.  Praise him excessively for bringing them home for you.

2.  Look for a chair for K

3.  Pray for Sunday to Go Smoothly.  Don't let your attitude stink.  Have the kiddos pick out their clothes on Sat. so they are ready to go in the morning. Pick out your own outfit Sat. night.  Make muffins or something so people have something to grab on their way out the door.

4.  Write a love note to Hubby;  put it in his truck

5.  Research and start to write out a plan for how the kids can successfully clean their rooms and keep it clean.  Praise them excessively for their good work in this area.

6.  Ask Hubby how we can keep E's artwork on the wall.

Children/Homeschooling

1.  Make sure you do nightly meals as much as possible

2.  Pray with the kiddos before they leave the house.

3.  Find 2 breakfast ideas that they express some enthusiasm for
4.  Make at least one of those ideas this week

Blogging Goals

1.  Blog M-F
2.  Read other people's blogs on Sat. 
3.  Comment on at least on other person's blog on Sat
4.  See if my blog has a search button.  If not, try to figure out how to put one on it.

Notes From a Couponer Wannabe: Part Two

Last week I talked about how I want to coupon.  I like the idea the idea of taking $1 off a product.  I like the idea of getting to keep more money in my pocket instead of always shelling it out.

So last week I bought a Sunday paper and went through the ads.

I actually didn't get too far with that.  Littlest came in while I was sorting through them and she jumped in on the bed and they went flying and I was afraid they'd get crumpled or ripped so I put them in a pile and they are hiding in a cupboard untouched since The Attack of the Toddler.

But I did use some coupons this week.  I downloaded coupons onto my Smartphone from Target.  I found out about them because MoneySaving Mom is on my Facebook feed.  I was disappointed to discover that my Target doesn't carry a lot of the products that were on sale via the Smartphone coupons.  Still, I got $1.25 off on frozen chicken.  That was cool.

Then there was the Walgreens shopping experience.  I normally pay $3.99 a gallon for milk.  That's basically $4 a gallon . . .This week I paid $1.99 a gallon ( $2).

So instead of $12 in milk I paid $6.  That felt good.  It also felt good to know that I could go to Wal-mart to pick up the bag of Cuties that I promised Firstborn for her speech meet and while there get milk for the same price as at Walgreens just by asking.  But I did bring the wrong brand of milk to the counter.  Apparently the brands matter . . .so I found out what my Wal-mart prefers and next time I'll know.

I went to my local Albertson's and there I had the annoying experience of having my bread ring up at $2.59 vs the $1.49 that I thought it was.  When I pointed this out to the clerk she gave it to me at the lower price.  So that was a savings of $1.10.

Just doing that math it looks like I saved

$1.25
  6.00
  1.10
  8.35

This may not seem like a lot to. . .it's NOT a lot, really.  But it is a start.

I have been reading about other ways to save money.  There are apps where you scan your receipt ( Ibotta & Checkout 51) and so next time I go to the grocery store I plan to scan my receipt with Checkout 51 to see how that works for me.

Another thing I'm going to do is get Hubby to help me figure out our cantankerous printer so that I can print out coupons for things I know we will use ( diapers, razors, deodorant, feminine products etc.)

Edited to add:  I spent $30 at CVS on baby products and got $10 back in CVS ExtraBucks which means I can go in there and buy $10 worth of stuff without cash.  I did print out $3.50 worth of coupons so that means that my coupon savings this week actually come to:

 8.35
 3.50
11.85

plus $10 to spend later

$21.85!  Yay!  I'm excited!

Be well and comment and tell me if you are couponing and how it's going for you!

~ Jennifer

On Enjoying Your Children, Parenting: Part Two

This post is for you, dear reader.  But it's for me, too, because I have to choose to enjoy my children some days.  It isn't always my natural response.  Parenting well is an intentional endeavor.  If you missed my first post on parenting, click here for a definition of parenting and some thoughts on how to encourage your kiddos.

But now here's some of my thoughts on enjoying your little people . . .

Choose to Be Flexible

I woke up early this morning, even though I didn't want to get up.  Twice this week Hubby and I have had to go out to look for things we need in the evenings and it has interfered with my "going to bed" early plans.  It's Friday and I'm tired.

I actually thought about sleeping in but I am super glad I got up because Secondborn had overslept and would have missed the bus if I hadn't gotten up and checked on him.  He's usually up at 5:45 and puttering around!

But I digress.  Back to the flexible bit . . .I said all that to say this . . .I was planning on Littlest sleeping in so I could do my devos and blog in peace.  But she woke up.

So I went and lay down beside her and tried to get her to go back to sleep.  I really thought I'd gotten her to sleep . . .I crept stealthily out of bed and but she SPRUNG up and joined me.  Sigh.

At this point I had two choices.  Be crabby and angry that I could not blog . . .I really want to be consistent about blogging M-F . . .or be flexible and figure something out for Littlest to do without ignoring her.  So she's got some snacks right now and we are making faces back and forth over the laptop screen. . . not my first choice.  I'd rather she was in bed asleep . . .but it is a better choice than me being resentful and surly with my child.

From past experience I've discovered that discontentment is contagious.  Whoever said that "If Momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!" knew what he was talking about, even if he didn't know his grammar!

Teach Your Kiddos Listening Skills

My oldest two are about two years apart.  I'm not sure where I learned to take their chubby little faces in my hands and say "Look in my eyes!" . . .but I did that a lot.  I made sure I had their complete attention before asking them to do anything.  When they got older I'd say "Look at my eyes" and take my middle and index fingers and lay them right under my eyes in a "Look at me" gesture.  It worked so well that one time I caught myself saying it to Hubby.  He was not amused  . . .but it does seem a little funny now.  :)

Now that they are older I don't do that anymore, but I do make sure we are looking into each other's eyes when we communicate and if necessary I turn off the television or put my phone down and turn my whole person towards them and say "Okay, tell me again what you were saying" because I want to model to them how to listen and besides, if I don't do that . . .I won't hear them either!

Teach Your Kiddos to Care about Each Other

"Families and communities are at their best when they care for one another." ~ unknown.  I love that quote!  It's not okay to be mean to your brother or your sister just because society seems to condone it and sitcoms make it seem super funny.  When my oldest two were little we learned to sing the Bible verse that says "Do to others as you would have them do to you . . ."  What an important concept!

Make Them Take Ownership For Their Choices

Let's talk about choices a little.  Being kind, for example,  is a CHOICE.  Your child can choose to be kind, or he/she can choose not to be kind.  You are the parent.  You decide what the consequence is.  It will be different for each child.  I have one child who fits this little ditty perfectly "When she was good she was very, very good.  But when she was bad, she was horrid."

One day I was horrified to see her little sister mirror her pouty lip, her stomp, her hands on her hips when she was angry.  At that moment I realized that I had to nip this in the bud. My approach went like this:  "Sweetie, I want you to change your attitude.  In fact, if you will change your attitude for the week I'll let you pick new art supplies out on Friday."

She didn't care about that.  She was MAD.  Then I said, "Fine, no new art supplies.  But if you stay with a bad attitude, you will lose your iPod for Saturday and Sunday.  Your choice."  And guess what?  She chose to keep the iPod.  It was her choice.

This concept is important because otherwise you may end up with self-centered, unpleasant children who cry because no one wants to be their friend.

Be Calm and Parent On

It  could happen.   You could get frustrated with your child.   Maybe.  Let's just say you lose your temper and say something like "That's it!!!! You never pick up your shoes!  I am throwing all your shoes away this very minute!"

Well, that is a bad thing.  For one, once you calm down you'll realize that if you don't follow through they'll be like . . ."Yeah, right.  Mom always gets mad and says stupid stuff that she doesn't do.  So I don't need to do what she says."  So this is bad because no parent wants their kid to stop respecting them or listening to them.

OR if you follow through, YOU suffer because then you have to shell out your money for new shoes for your kid ( Unless he or she has a nice piggy bank.  If that's the case, make them pay and it will work much better than you replacing the shoes, but you'll still end up replacing that money at some point which is bad.)

All of the above points are require you to be conscientious and intentional in your parenting.  They can be pretty tiring.

So let's make the last point fun!

Enjoy Your Kids!

Go on!  Tickle them.  Make faces with them.  Blow bubbles.  Go to the park.  Toss a ball around.  Exercise!  If they're older, watch movies together.  Tell them corny jokes and about silly stuff that happened when you were their age.  Look through old pictures together and let them make fun of your hair twenty years ago.

Make sure they know that you love them!  And make sure that they know that you like them, too.

Edited to Add:  I'm not sure where that story about shoes came from  . . .maybe from Focus on the Family, the Radio show?  I listen to them a lot.  In fact, if you are looking for someone who really know what he's talking about when it comes to kids, you'd probably love Kevin Leman.  I have heard him speak more than once on Focus on the Family.  Click here to learn more!

Love,

~ Jennifer

My Friend, the Poem "Myself"

I'm going to share another of my favorite poems with you and this is why:

So often we try to please others and we can't and we end up miserable.  The truth is, do your best and as Dr. Suess says "Those who matter don't mind and those who mind don't matter."  ( which by the way is not always true;  sometimes those that we love or respect the most don't understand and that hurts terribly.)

But it will be a great balm for your soul if you are the sort of person you know you should be and it will cut way, way down on the misunderstandings in your life if you are the sort of person you know you should be.  Enjoy the poem, whether it is an old friend to you or a new one!

~ Jennifer

"Myself"

by Edgar A. Guest

I have to live with myself and so
I want to be fit for myself to know,
I want to be able as days go by,
To look at myself straight in the eye.
I don't want to stand with the setting sun
And hate myself for the things I've done.

I don't want to hide on a closet shelf
A lot of secrets about myself,
And fool myself as I come and go
Into thinking that nobody else will know
What kind of man I really am;
I don't want to dress myself in sham.

I want to go with my head erect,
I want to deserve all men's respect
And in this struggle for fame and pelf
I want to be able to like myself.
I don't want to look at myself and know
That I am a bluster and empty show.

I cannot hide myself from me;
I can see what others can never see;
I know what others can never know,
I cannot fool myself, and so

Whatever happens, I want to be
Self-respecting and conscience free.