Happy Birthday To My One and Only

Today is my better half's birthday. I won't divulge his age, even though he's not embarrassed by it. I'll just say that he is two years older than me.Erik and I had a whirlwind romance. We met the weekend before Thanksgiving in 2000, were "pre-engaged" by Valentines day of 2001, officially engaged by June of 2001 and our wedding was December 29, 2001.

Let me say that in general I do not believe in nor am I a fan of pre-engagement. I think it is silly. Why would you promise to get engaged to someone - just get engaged. So, in my mind, we were engaged by Valentine's day. That Valentine's Day we didn't do anything special. Erik was doing snow removal way back then and was usually up early in the morning, helped deliver food at his brother's restaurant and very tired by the end of the day. I worked full time, so I wasn't available during the day to do anything so he had just come to my townhouse that night and we cooked and hung out.

At some point in the night, Erik brought out a ring he had purchased in Israel. It was a silver ring and in Hebrew, the ring was engraved with a verse from the Bible, "I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine" - Song of Solomon 6:3. He told me that he purchased the ring with the intention of giving it to the girl he intended to marry someday. Sweet, right? Ten months later we were married. It feels like it's been a whirlwind eight years too. Happy Birthday, Honey. Hope all your dreams come true!

New Years resolutions

I'm not really very good at keeping New Years resolutions.  I like to pretend that I am by setting goals and devising a plan, but usually something happens along the way and I either don't start working towards the goal at all or I start working towards it and I don't finish the project.

It is a cold, frigid, blustery, single digit day here in Western PA so I decided to work on one of my goals for the New Year.  My first goal for 2010 is to cook a meal every single night.  During the month of December, Erik and I get very lax about eating out.  With shopping, preparation for our open house, Christmas Eve, and traveling to my hometown, preparing meals falls to the wayside.  The kids live on PB&J, mac n cheese, spaghetti and ravioli.  Erik and I eat whatever is left over in the fridge.  In fact, we are still eating some left overs from our parties and gatherings.

We've all gotten tired of eating this way, so it is time to get on a real meal plan.

My mother in law got me a beautiful cast iron enameled dutch oven, so I broke it out today to make chili.  After getting all the ingredients into the dutch oven, I sat down to devise a meal plan for the coming weeks.  My goal was to plan meals up to Valentine's day.  I don't really plan breakfast or lunch because those things are relatively easy to throw together.  My kids usually eat oatmeal, cereal, eggs, pancakes, etc. Breakfast is ALWAYS the easiest meal at our house.  Lunch is sometimes trickier with juggling Walker's appetite and his Kindergarten schedule.  Walker is (and has always been) a late sleeper and he doesn't really like to eat breakfast right away.  The other two are early risers and wake me up each morning by saying, "Morning, Momma.  I'm hungry."  Overall, lunch is easy compared to supper.

Over the last few days, I have been collecting meal ideas on a note pad.  (This photo was taken after I had already started crossing off my list).

Basically I did this by first writing down all of the main courses I could think of.  Then, I asked Erik and the children to fill in with their opinion on their favorite meals to eat.  From that list, I then filled in my weekly meal planner (a small note pad that I found at Michael's last summer, but previously I just used one of the many free calendars we get in the New Year).

After I got the main courses in, I go back and fill in my side dishes.  I am not very creative about side dishes.  I'm basically a two  item kind of chef.  You have the main dish, usually a meat, pasta or fish, and then a side, which is usually just a vegetable.  I'm not creative that way and I don't really like to experiment with side dishes.  I am a "Plain Jane" in terms of food.  I don't like to take away from the true flavor of the food I am serving.  I'm not really much of a casserole person either - I like things plain.  I'm sure to some people this seems boring, but it makes meal time a lot easier.  Erik jokes about the fact that pretty much the only seasoning I use is garlic salt.  I have recently managed to expand my seasoning use, but I like to keep it simple.

The one thing I had to plan for specifically is that getting vegetables into my children has become a challenge.  Walker actually does very well with plain veggies on his plate, but the younger two often refuse to eat them.  A year ago, I really got into a philosophy of cooking loosely called "deceptively delicious."

Jessica Seinfeld, wife of the famous comedian, Jerry, wrote a cookbook of that title offering recipes in which she added 1/4 -1/2 cup of pureed vegetables or fruit to a recipe to enhance the nutrient content. In the book she also discusses whole foods, fresh produce, etc.  It is a nice little cook book.  My only complaint is that it doesn't really break down what produce works best for items not discussed in the cook book.  For example, besides the recipes in her book, what other foods can you hide beets in easily?  She lists all the fruits and vegetables she regularly purees and adds to her recipes, but I would have liked it if she also listed what foods the flavor profile works with.  I guess it is pretty easy to figure out on your own, but I like to have someone else test it before I go for it.   My only other complaint is that she has several recipes for "kid" foods as main dishes for the family meal - dishes like chicken nuggets - things I don't really see as acceptable for our family meal time.  I feel it is important to expose our children to "adult" meals and once our children started eating solids, they ate whatever we were eating.  I am not a short order chef and I do not make two entrees at each meal.  What I cook is what is available.  If you choose not to eat it, that's fine, but if you get hungry later, fruit is pretty much your only option.

So, what does my meal plan look like?

January 3-9:

3 -  Chili loaded w/ black beans, kidney beans and veggies.

4 - Alice Springs Chicken (I found the recipe for this meal online because this is one of Erik's favorite meals at The Outback Steakhouse and the 4th is his birthday) with Caesar Salad (Erik's favorite) and mixed

5 - Chicken Salads - Tuesdays are easy nights!  Erik and I usually eat alone because we have Youth Group this night and the children eat at my in-laws house.  This is when we get to eat stuff the kids normally don't eat.  If I was making a salad for a different night, I usually just keep some chicken set aside for the little two.

6 - BBQ Pulled Pork.  We'll either eat this on whole wheat buns or just by itself with green beans and a salad.

7- Slow cooked roast beef with potatoes and carrots (a lot of people call it pot roast).

8 -  Beef and Chicken Fajitas with corn and Spanish rice.  I'll use left over chicken and roast beef from the previous meals to make this.

9 -  Beef Vegetable soup.  I have a batch of this frozen in the freezer from earlier this fall.  I'll serve it with some crusty bread - yum-O!

10 - Ribs.  We got kind of tired of ribs after our cook off this summer, but it's time to start practicing again!  I'll probably serve Baked Beans and Coleslaw with this.

11 - Spaghetti with meat sauce and veggies

12 - We'll be eating whatever is left over from the previous week.  We're leaving the 13th for Harrisburg and the PA State Farm Show, so the next 5 days we'll be combining eating out with my plan for saving money by bringing food to make lunch and avoid the food court temptation at the Farm Show.  Trust me, we'd love to eat all of our meals at the concessions - the various food councils - beef, pork, poultry, etc., all have exceptional food booths providing delicious meals, but, like all concessions, they are a bit on the pricey side, so I try to bring sandwiches for our main lunch then allow for a concession treat.  One of our favorite is the fried mozzarella cubes - I look forward to those every year!  Another way to save money is that we get our hotel online through hotwire.com and choose a hotel that provides breakfast.  We're able to eat a great breakfast and usually I can take some yogurt and fruit from the breakfast buffet for snacking at the farm show.  Another great trick is to take some plastic spoons and those little single servings of peanut butter that they provide at the breakfast buffet.  My kids love to just eat peanut butter on a spoon - this way takes a little longer because they have to dig the peanut butter out of those little cups.

Anyway, this meal plan goes on and on - I was actually even able to plan through February 27th!

A couple other tips that I'll share that have helped me with meal planning:

1) if you have a lot of cookbooks, go through the cook books searching for recipes your family would enjoy.  In a journal or notebook, divide the book into sections - appetizers, soups and salads, main entrees, side dishes, desserts.  As you find a recipe your family would enjoy, instead of recopying the recipe onto a card, in the notebook under the appropriate section, record the title of the recipe, the name of the recipe and the page number the recipe is on.  You only have to go through a cook book once to see if there are any good recipes.  I've done this for myself in a small journal:

2) If I have a great recipe I found from the internet or have gotten from someone else, I put the recipe card into photo albums.  It makes it easy to find and you can leave the card in the plastic cover so you don't spill on it!  I have one large album I use for recipes I make a lot/recipes I know are tried and true family favorites.  I also have several small photo albums that I use.  Each one is labeled for different purposes. One book  is for cookies and desserts, one for recipes I've been given that I'm meaning to try.  I also have books specific to birthday parties or holidays.  Those are filled with both recipes and craft and game ideas.

Whenever possible, I try to buy and serve whole foods.  We do still enjoy our processed foods too - blue box macaroni and cheese and the like, but while I'm not perfect at it, compared to a lot of America, I'm cooking healthier than most.  Additionally, we have the advantage and privilege to have two freezers full of home grown or locally grown beef, poultry and pork.  I'm not even going to go into it in this post, but if you want to improve your health, your community and the world, start investigating local farms and purchasing "freezer meats."  There are several farmers I know of just in the South Butler area that offer beef for sale.  My brother in law raises and sells pork this way as well.  We have been raising our own poultry for three years now.  Yes, purchasing meat this way can be more expensive, but the health benefits are more than worth it.  There is a lot of controversy whether you should be buying organic or not, but for now, I think it is more important to buy locally.  Small local farmers do not have the need for antibiotics, growth hormones, etc., that mega farm feed lots do.  The cows are born in healthier environments, raised in healthier environments and are treated better.  Same goes with chickens, turkeys and hogs. I do not have a garden and I do not "put up" my own vegetables.  I am not a dedicated gardener and year after year my vegetable garden falls to the weeds.  However, I have discovered that during peak seasons, my favorite local produce market, Ambrose's, has a wide variety of produce available for purchase in bulk and the prices are so reasonable it makes it silly to have a garden of my own.  I just buy, blanch and freeze locally raised beans, corn and whatever else is looking good.  I'm also a fan of the frozen produce at the grocery store.  The prices are reasonable and most products are flash frozen within 24 hours of being picked, so in the winter, buying frozen vegetables are really the best way to get the bang for your buck.

Hopefully this inspires or helps any of you wanting to get your meal strategy in place for the New Year.

More Bethany House publishing

If you follow my blog, you know that I've been participating in a program through Bethany House Publishing where they send me free books and I read them and post reviews. This last batch was all historical fiction.

The first book is Though Waters Roar by Lynn Austin.

Harriet opens the book lying on a cot in a jail cell, reflecting on the irony of her arrest. Through reflection (flashbacks) she tells the stories of the women in her life. Her grandmother, Grandma Bebe, her mother and through them, her own story. The stories begin in 1848 and cover such important issues of slavery, war, prohibition, and women's suffrage. Each character plays a vital role in Harriet's life and how she has developed into the young woman she is today. Harriet is struggling with her life. She looks at the lives of her mother and grandmother and feels she has nothing important to offer the world. Her grandmother defies every traditional woman's role for the time, and her mother spent the majority of her life conforming to those roles. Harriet struggles with understanding how to grow into the woman she is meant to be based on the strong influences of her grandmother and mother.

The stories are very engaging and as a woman, daughter and mother, I related to the individual stories of each woman and their relationships with each other.  I highly recommend this book.

The second book to review is The Silent Gift by Michael Landon and Cindy Kelley.  I enjoyed this book but I felt the plot had too many twists and turns, too much drama and not enough story development between Mary Sinclair and her son, Jack.  Some of the events just seemed too unrealistic and far fetched to make the story believable.  It is overall a sweet story and will keep you entertained and interested.

Mary's son Jack is labeled a "deaf mute" in the book, but it was my impression that today, he would be considered autistic.  The year is 1938 - the end of the Great Depression and Mary's husband, Jerry, has been struggling to make ends meet for many months.  Mary does her best to keep things together, but Jerry is not content making meager wages and continues to search for "something better." Mary soon discovers that Jerry has found "something better" in the arms of another woman, and the business trip he has told Mary about, is actually a trip to get a quickie divorce.  He has emptied his bank accounts and Mary realizes she is going to be left penniless and helpless.  She manages to take the money Jerry has liquidated and she and Jack make their get away.

Just as soon as Mary thinks she has gotten away and gets set up in a new city, she loses the money she stole from her husband and is left penniless.  At the Salvation Army, Mary learns that Jack has a gift.  He is able to meet with a person and give them a "prediction" so to speak.  These predictions come in the form of numbers that are associated to the book, chapter, and verse in the Bible.  Jack becomes notorious for his "predictions" and through a series of coincidences, he and Mary are recognized by con artist who both befriends them and exploits them.  Unexpectedly, Jerry shows up and claims custody of Jack, devastating Mary.  She is prisoned and Jack manages to escape from Jerry and is placed in a mental health institution.  Mary eventually is released from prison and she continues her desperate search for her son.  Just when she gives up hope, an unexpected ally comes to her aide and by chance, they eventually find Jack and the Mother and Son are reunited.

The third book to review is A Measure of Mercy by Lauraine Snelling.  This book is the first in the series Home to Blessing.  It is apparent very early on in the book that the characters and location are written about in another series.  Snelling does a good job of making you feel familiar with the characters, but you do get the sense that you are missing something from not reading the previous books.

A Measure of Mercy focuses on the life of Astrid Bjorklund as she completes her medical training under the instruction of her sister in law, Elizabeth.  She is faced with the choice of remaining in her home town of Blessing, North Dakota, or traveling to Chicago to formalize her training at the Alfred Morganstein Hospital for Women and Children.  She eventually decides to make the trip to Chicago, much to the dismay of Joshua Landsverk, who has returned to Blessing in the hopes of being remembered by Astrid and perhaps courting her.

The story of a young woman training to be a doctor is interesting and Astrid's struggle to make a choice based on God's calling is dynamic.  She is relatable in that she struggles greatly with knowing and understanding what God is telling her.  She tries to turn to her mother, a faithful example, but feels that she must be lacking something because of her mother's unfailing faith.  On top of her struggles with medical school, Astrid struggles with the thought that she is being called to become a medical missionary in Africa.  In the meantime, Joshua struggles with attempting to have a long distance relationship with Astrid, made even harder by the fact that Astrid is not aware of his intentions towards her.

Overall, this is a very interesting story and left me anticipating the next installment.  In the meantime, I will definitely be reading the previous series about Blessing.

The fourth and final book to review is part of another series (Diamond of the Rockies).  The Rose Legacy follows Carina Maria DiGratia as she leaves her home in Sonoma and travels to the legendary Crystal Colorado.  She leaves behind a doting Italian family, her culture, and betrayal by her sister in an attempt to show them all that she is just fine and will make a new life for herself in beautiful Crystal.  A series of unfortunate events leave Carina, a victim of false advertising, with no money, no assets, abandoned in a corrupt mining town.  An unscrupulous lawyer, Berkley Beck, befriends Carina, telling her that he is her only hope.  As Carina works for him as his secretary, she uncovers the web of lies he has told.  She struggles with trusting anyone, but finds that for some reason, she instinctively trusts Quillan Shepard, the freighter that sends her wagon full of her most precious belongings to their destruction over the mountainside.  Carina wants to hate Quillan, but finds that he is the only person she can truly rely on.  In the midst of a town full of corruption, greed, and lacking God, Carina struggles with her faith and uncovers the beautiful love story of Quillan's parents.  The end of the book is left with a bit of a cliff hangar leaving you anticipating the next book in the series.  While I struggled sometimes with what seemed like inconsequential details, the story was engaging and was a great combination of romance, faith and historical drama.

Happy reading everyone!

Maggie's preschool program

Friday, December 18th, Maggie had the opportunity to perform in her preschool program. I knew that they were doing certain songs because they were the only songs I heard her sing for about a month.

I don't think I'm ever prepared for how adorable the program actually is. My heart beat a little bit faster as the children filed into the gymnasium and the teachers lined them up on stage.  Maggie got up on stage, scanned the crowed and waved at us. She was so excited. Once the music started, our dancing girl got her groove on, swaying to the beat and going along with all of the hand motions. I was overcome at how small yet big and young yet mature she seemed up there on that stage. She was completely unaffected by the crowd or by the children around her that had stage fright and forgot the songs and the motions they had practiced for so long. It always surprises me that my children are able to perform so easily since I am very bad at preparing them for what the program actually entails - getting up on stage in front of about 100 or so people and singing and dancing.  I'm so glad that they seem to enjoy performing and do so with gusto.  I'm very proud of how hard the practice and how much they want to please.

Maggie just melted my heart yet again that night.  That's such a great feeling.  I'm so grateful to have been so blessed.

I wish that for the preschool portion of the program the school would leave the house lights up so we could get good pictures. Unfortunately, the ceiling of the school gymnasium/auditorium is painted a dark blue gray, so there is no chance for my external flash to be of any help in lighting the cast. The first song was Jingle Bells followed by Away in A Manger, God Made Me, and the grand finale was Skidamarink.

Many family members have asked questions about the origins of the song - I remember hearing it on a TV show my sisters watched called Sharon, Lois and Brahm. Here is a little information I found on Wikipedia on the song.

Skidamarink is a very popular children's song with a long history. It was originally the grand finale song of the 1910 Broadway musical, "The Echo". Since the title is gibberish, it has had various spellings over the years.

Though the original musical only lasted a few months, the song endured and was re-popularized in the 1950s by Jimmy Durante.

The song began appearing on many song collections for children's shows in the 1980s. The most popular versions were by the Australian show, Bananas in Pyjamas, and the Canadian show, The Elephant Show.

Several years after the conclusions of The Elephant Show, in the late 1990s, the original performers on that show, Sharon, Lois & Bram, briefly had their own show entitled, Skinnamarink TV.

[edit]Typical Version of Lyrics

Skidamarink a dinky dink,
Skidamarin,ky doo,
I - love - you!
Skidamarink a dinky dink,
Skidamarinky doo,
I - love - you!

I love you in the morning
and in the afternoon,
I love you in the evening
and underneath the moon;

Oh, Skidamarink a dinky dink,
Skidamarinky doo,
I - LOVE - YOU!

I love you, Maggie May!

Puppies and kittens and Christmas . . .Oh My!

You've probably noticed I haven't blogged in quite a while. The reason for this is that I am not good at keeping secrets - especially when those secrets involve my daily life.

Shortly after Thanksgiving, Erik & I drove North and picked out a puppy to give to Travis's family for Christmas.

Meet Holly. She was named on Christmas after her family officially received her. During her three week stay at our house she was referred to as "puppy," "blackie" and "Sissy." She may also believe her name is "Treat" because I was always yelling that when I wanted her to return to the house.

About a week after we picked up Holly, Erik, his mom & the kids travelled to Ohio to get another puppy for Erik's dad. Here is Maggie holding the yet to be named puppy. He was called "Brownie" for the time he was at my house.I could fib and tell you these puppies overtook my life and I spent every moment caring for, cleaning up after and training these two beasts. But, that would be an obvious lie. As evidenced by this picture.

The pups quickly adapted to crate training and this became the normal state of puppiness at our house. Can't you tell they were just horrid? I don't know how I got anything decorated, baked or bought for Christmas because all of my time was spent caring for puppies. Yeah, right. My kids were harder to wrangle this month!

Holly's first night with us we were afraid she would be lonely, so we brought Roscoe/Hank in to live with her. He was not so thrilled about learning to crate train two years into his life. His expression here is: I AM NOT A PUPPY!

Little "Brownie" is about 7 weeks younger than Holly so he had a lot to learn. Holly was an angel, never making a mess on the floor, eating her food properly and lady like, leaving her crate and heading right out the door and promptly scratching the door when she wanted back in. Brownie would take two steps out of the crate and would mess on the floor. (Did I mention how grateful I am for the concrete floor in my sunroom?) He also liked to use his paw to tip his food bowl over and spill food all over the floor to eat it. Messy. We had to carry him to the door, shove him outside, and hurridly shut the door on him so he wouldn't sneak back in. He was not fond of the snow and cold.
I don't think we were able to pull our secrets off. Travis saw the pups one night after I tried SO hard to keep them secret. I had threatened the kids within an inch of their lives about keeping the puppies a secret. I didn't blog because I was afraid I would accidentally say something about the puppies in a post. One night while Erik & Travis were helping a friend with some car problems, I left the pups out for their final bathroom break before bed and I didn't know that Travis was coming back to the house and he saw them outside. Bill also saw the pups before the big day, but we tried to convince him that we got two puppies - one for Taylor and one for Chet.

Bill seemed pretty surprised Christmas morning and most of the other Schwalm's were excited to receive Holly. We also gave Taylor a kitten, so she was way more interested in that little ball of fur.

Thus ends the story of why I didn't post for over a month. Things are going to change! I've got lots of pictures and even some video to post of our Christmas activities. Lots of fun! Here are some preview pictures. My little angels had a wonderful Christmas and we're looking forward to an amazing New Year as we anticipate the arrival of baby #4 in June. I'm already 17 weeks!

Thanksgiving weekend at the Lezzer Farm

Christmas Morning waiting on the stairs for Mimi & Papa Ralph and Donna & Danny to arrive to watch us open our gifts.

Christmas morning after the gift opening and all the gifts shoved under the tree.

Sisters

Sisters can do some cruel things.

Especially older sisters.

I know this because I am the oldest sister. And I admit, I was pretty cruel at times. I was bossy, manipulative, and did I mention I was bossy?

I'm afraid my daughter may have picked up some of those less than desireable traits.

For instance, take this picture here. It is a picture of my youngest two while playing dress up. Now, mind you, I don't doubt for one minute that Will was completely compliant and willing to dress in Maggie's Halloween peacock costume. I'm sure it was probably even his idea. But I can bet you that Maggie took a little bit of joy in dressing him up like a girl because when she came downstairs she said, "Wook Momma, I dwessed Wiwl up wike a gerl."

I think perhaps in this picture, reality has set in and Will realizes what his sister has done to him and that his mother has captured it digitally and will use it to manipulate and boss him around in the future when he is not doing what she wants him to do. Especially when he brings girls to the house.

Not that he will because he is not growing up.

Now, for a little commentary on my sisters.

A few weekends ago, my Mom, sisters & I took a cooking enthusiasts course at the Pennsylvania Culinary Institute. It was on Holiday appetizers. It was tons of fun and we made and sampled some delicious food.

I was very excited for the opportunity to get to hang w/ my mom and sisters because it is something we rarely get to do. Katie & I both have children and finding time to leave them is sometimes difficult. Erin is a busy bank lady and Lara, well, she is our social butterfly and always has tons of stuff going on. So when we all decided to do this - as our Christmas gift to each other - I was excited. As the weekend approached I was even more excited - I was ready for a grown up weekend away!

I planned for this weekend carefully. My younger sisters, aged 27 and 24, are always dressed to the height of fashion. That height of fashion almost ALWAYS includes sky high, wedge your feet in, three inch or higher heels. Erin, in fact, has actually willed her feet to shrink a half size or more so that she can wear cuter and daintier styles of sky high heels. Okay, so we think she endures the ancient art of Japanese foot binding in order to have the smaller shoe size, but whatever.

Lara, the hip, young fashionista, has a closet full of shoes that she keeps in their original boxes which she has labeled with the shoe description so she knows anytime she looks in the closet what she is getting.

Katie, just entering her 30s is still at the age where she can transition easily from mom to stylish young mom with no difficulty. And she shares the same shoe size as my sister, Lara, so she frequently gets to borrow hip and trendy styles from her. They also have reasonably average size feet.

My mom shares a shoe size with Katie and Lara but she is literally unable to wear flats. Of any form. She actually even wears platform sneakers! My mom will go around the house in bare feet or flats and will say, "Ugh, I've got to go put some shoes on w/ a heel. My feet are killing me." That's just wrong!

Enter me: an old lady, with three children under the age of 5, having endured three pregnancies that have lengthened and widened my already gigantor size 10 feet to an 11 wide. I cannot contort my foot into those beautiful and stylish heels (nor can I find beautiful and stylish shoes in size 11) so I am left with matronly and plain flats. On this special occasion, I managed to find a pair of 11w wedge heels in an adorable black toile canvas. Sure, the were a little summery, but the were 3" wedges, which meant that I would be able to wear them with almost no problem. Best of all, I found them on clearance for $5! I knew it was providence that I found them and they were meant to be worn for my weekend w/ my stylish and fashionable sisters. I spent hours coordinating an outfit to wear with them. I didn't want to wear anything too hot - we'd be cooking in a commercial kitchen after all, but I wanted to look as fashionable as my sisters. I settled on a red blouse, black jeans and my new wedge shoes.

The morning of our class was a little hurried as we finished getting ready at the hotel and went downstairs for breakfast. We all arrived and ate in stages, so I didn't really take a good look at everyone to see what everyone else was wearing. We rushed through a quick continental breakfast, to the car and then into Pittsburgh to find a parking garage and walk to PCI.

I was worried as I put on my new shoes that they were a little tight, but as we walked from the parking garage to the cooking school, they loosened up and I was able to wear them all class. I also got several compliments from my sisters on how cute the shoes were. Since it was before 9 am in the city, things were really quiet, and as we walked to the school, we were able to spread out a bit and walk at our own paces. We made some light hearted jokes to my sister Erin about her boots and asked if she was going to an equestrian competition after class. Once in class, we got our supplies and our instructions and were too busy cooking to really come together as a group to talk and tease much as we are prone to do when we are together. After we finished cooking, we sampled everything.

I made crab cakes - very delish. Lara made the yummiest Polenta I have ever had. It was a creamy, cheesy polenta topped with sauteed mushrooms. Katie made an Scallop Escabiche in cucumber cups which were delicious too. I was excited to try and escabiche as I see them make it on Top Chef all the time, but I was never sure what it tasted like. I don't think the rest of my family liked it as much as I did, which is surprising because it had fresh, chopped tomato in it, and I HATE tomato (except for sauce or ketchup - which is a whole other blog post). Erin made a parmesan peppercorn Biscotti which was surprisingly yummy. We all decided that if we made it at home, we'd use less peppercorn and eat it as a bread rather than a biscotti. None of us like the harness of a biscotti. Finally, my mom made grilled zucchini strips stuffed with spinach and herbed goat cheese.We all felt the goat cheese was way too strong and were trying to think of a good alternative cheese to fill the zucchini with. We thought maybe feta. And instead of serving it cold, we'd serve it warm.

Finally, class was over and we were getting ready to leave downtown to head to McKnight Road to do some shopping. I asked a fellow classmate to take our picture. Here it is. Jennie the Giant with her mom and sisters. I am a good HEAD taller than everyone in the picture! The one time this crew decides to wear flats and I'm wearing heels pushing my usual 5'8" to almost 6 feet! Good grief!

So here we are after the class was over. From left is Lara, Erin, (people often ask them if they are twins, they are not) my mom, Katie and me. Lets point some sisterly things out here. First, I don't think any of us look anything alike. Maybe my sister Katie looks like my mom, but I don't think the rest of us do. Yet anywhere we go, people always say, "Are you sisters?"

We are sisters. And I'm grateful and blessed to have such wonderful women in my life.

Thanks, girls, for a wonderful time. And special thanks to Mom who graciously funded the entire operation.

Let's do it again really soon . . . I need to get out of the house.

Maggie & I watch the CMA Awards.

First thing out of Maggie's mouth upon seeing Carrie Underwood: "Oh, Momma!" Sucks in her breath, "She's so beautiful! She looks so shiny and sparkly. Can I have a dress like that please?" After the commercial break, Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood come back on stage. Maggie's comment, "Hey, she changed from her sparkly dress. Wonder if she changed her shoes? Momma, him changed too." Darius Rucker performing: "Momma, what is this song? Me: "It's 'Alright'" Maggie sings, "Alright, Alright" Says: "Oh, like in the car "Alright"?" Maggie during Miranda Lambert's performance: "Momma, hims hair is crazy!" (Guitarist had spiked mohawk). "Her hair is not crazy, thank goodness."

During George Strait's performance: "Wow! He's a real cowboy!"

Time goes by so . . .not slowly!

I cannot believe how long it has been since I last posted. I'm not really sure where the time has gone! We've started Christmas shopping already and I'm making my plans to decorate for the season. And as many of you know, since November 1, we've been listening to Christmas music around here. What else have we been up to? Not much, but here's a little re-cap.

Halloween has come and gone. I managed to pull off Maggie's costume after some procrastination regarding the costume materials. This was the inspiration for the costume. It sold on ebay for $140!

I lucked out in that I found a supplier to purchase 175 yards of tulle in 3, 6, and 9 inch widths in various colors. I negated that luck by waiting too long to find the fabric and paying double for expedited shipping. In hindsight, I probably would have gotten all of the materials to complete her costume in plenty of time, but I was afraid it wouldn't come, so I paid for the shipping. So, I paid less than I would have had I purchased the costume from one of the crafters on etsy.com

or ebay, but I spent more than I should have. However, the costume was an award winner. We participated in the local Saxonburg Halloween VFD parade and Maggie won 2nd place for best costume in her age division. Here's a picture of the kids following the parade. It had been a pretty decent day - we had Will's birthday party and we decided to go to the parade last minute. I hadn't realized how fast the weather had gotten cold, and by the time we got to the parade, it had started to sprinkle. We sat in the car until the parade stared and then braved the mist and walked the parade route. It quickly quit raining, but it was cold. Once octopus would not walk, so he got to ride in the stroller. We had some trouble with the octopus costumes because the arms were so heavy they pulled the sweatshirts and made them stretch and pucker. The boys were happy with them though, so that is all that matters.

Here's Maggie in her full costume at the Clearview Mall trick or treat event. She got many a compliment from the shop keepers. Walker was at a birthday party that night at Chuck E Cheeses, so the little two had a lot of fun trick or treating. Will was pretty amazed that all he had to do was walk up to someone, say "tic tea" and they would put candy in his bucket. Woo-hoo! Will would not stand still for a Mall picture because he was too intent on getting candy out of his bucket.

Maggie is already thinking about next year's costume. She wants to be a lady bug or a bumble bee. I think I can handle that. Walker, a little jealous over Maggie's parade win, asked if he could wear Maggie's peacock costume next year. I love that he is still innocent enough to not understand that wearing that costume would cause him to be teased.

It's such a fine line, isn't it, treading that area between wanting your child to be able to do or be anything he/she wants and not allowing them to do it because you know it will cause them to be teased or tortured. It saddens me that we live in a society that kids just can't be what they want to be because they will be teased about their choices by other kids. Walker doesn't understand that Maggie's peacock is a "girl" costume. He just wants to have a costume that will win him a prize. It is for reasons such as this that I understand why people home school. I just pray that I am doing my job right and that he will be able to withstand the pressures of society and will live true to himself. It's going to be a rough road. He's already picking up some unflattering language at school that we have to address. We're doing our best to explain to him why we feel what he is saying is wrong, but I know how hard it is to resist repeating what most of his friends are saying. At least for now, he's slipping up in front of us and we can reprimand him and talk about why we don't want him to say that. I know when he gets older, he'll have the awareness to watch what he says around us. It's such a struggle being a parent. I have so many moments daily that I wonder if I'm using those "teaching" moments wisely, taking each opportunity to teach my children the values Erik and I want them to have.

Will we succeed? I'm not sure. I feel that Erik and I are strong parents and our children are clear about what we expect of our family. For now, I just try to review each day and remember the funny and silly things the kids say and do.

Some of the most memorable of late:

Walker participates in the "Book It" reading program at his school. In October, he was challenged to read eight books and record the title and author of each book and turn in a form to his teacher. After he did, he received a coupon for a free personal pan pizza. Maggie, jealous that Walker got to earn his own pizza asked me, "Momma, when am I going to get a poo-con to get a free pizza?"

Willie James is really talking up a storm now and loves to sing. His favorite song to sing right now is "Happy Birthday" and he sings it to his favorite girl, Ella. Here's also in love with football and loves to watch it on TV. He asks to wear his "Stee" (Steeler) shirt and just tonight was enthralled with the game.

Life in futility . . .

Being a stay at home mom is very rewarding. I wouldn't change anything about my choice, however, after five and a half years of this profession, I have realized that it is basically an exercise in futility - at least for me. In case you are not familiar with the definition of futile, I've looked it up.

Main Entry: fu·tile Function: adjectiveEtymology: Middle French or Latin; Middle French, from Latin futilis brittle, pointless, probably from fu- (akin tofundere to pour) — more atfoundDate: circa 1555

1 : serving no useful purpose : completely ineffective 2 : occupied with trifles :frivolous

synonyms futile, vain, fruitless mean producing no result. futile may connote completeness of failure or unwisdom of undertakingfutile that surrender was the only choice left>. vain usually implies failure to achieve a desired result vainattempt to get the car started>.fruitless comes close to vain but often suggests long and arduous effort or severe disappointment <fruitlessefforts to obtain a lasting peace>.

Today is one of those days that everywhere I look, I see projects that need completed, basic chores that need done, and I really feel no inclination to do any of it. All I see is long and arduous effort ending in severe disappointment!

Let's just start with the kitchen. I won't even go into the dishes that need cleaned up and put into the dishwasher. Today I'll just talk about the futility of sweeping the floor. Erik was in charge of supper last night because I went to Bible Study and he kept the kids busy playing outside in leaves until late. Erik never says anything when I want to go do something for myself, so I really shouldn't complain that he doesn't clean up to my specifications, but sometimes, because of the futility of cleaning, I do get a little frustrated when he leaves messes for me to take care of - like this. He didn't sweep the floor under the island after the kids ate.

Crumbs and a hunk of cheese are still lying there. I really can't fault him, because I really do understand how futile it is to sweep. There will just be another mess there in another 2 hours

when it is snack time.

On a positive note, this just reconfirms my gladness at putting in the hardwood instead of a different surface. This flooring is so forgiving, hides most messes, and unless there is a glob of mud on the floor, hides my dirty floors well. It's a little gross, but what can I say, farm life makes cleaning futile. I no sooner get the floor clean than someone walks through with their boots on. I do believe that some of this futility will be alleviated when Christmas comes. I have dropped several not so subtle hints that I want the Shark Pocket Steam Mop. I hope Santa remembers that I want it so desperately!

On to the laundry. This is my laundry/mud room.

When we remodeled the house, it was a large pantry. At the time I thought, "Whatever would I need with such a large pantry?" So we gutted it, moved the door around and the pantry became the much needed laundry and mud room. At the time, with just Erik and me, I thought the room was so big. Five years later it is waaaayyy too small for our family of five. There isn't enough room for our muddy boots, dirty clothes, coveralls and coats, etc. I hate going into that room and not just because of the mounds of laundry that are there waiting for me on an hourly

basis. It is a constant reminder of how futile cleanliness on a farm is.

This is a picture of my dream laundry room. I dream of a laundry where I have TONS of room. My idea is that the laundry room will be the main closet for the entire house. When our kids get older, instead of me folding clothes and putting them away for them, they will be instructed to come to the laundry room to get their clothes - if they do not - oh well - the clothes will be hanging from the racks or be folded into neatly designated drawers for each person of the house. Can't find your shirt - check the laundry room.

Isn't this laundry room just lovely? This room is courtesy of Hampton Design and I have provided a link to the website here. Great job! It is just beautiful. And if anyone would like to offer to help me achieve this laundry room by building an addition onto my house, I will happily accept. : )

http://www.hamptondesign.com/built_ins5.html

How beautiful is the white farmhouse sink? I don't even have a plastic washtub in my laundry room right now. I know I shouldn't complain because I could have a room this large if I chose to move my laundry to the root cellar (basement) where it is dark,dank, and drippy! I know it is a luxury to have my laundry off the kitchen where I have easy access to it all the time, but I would love to just have a little more space! I can't even imagine what things are going to get like once the kids get older and their clothes are bigger!

Can you imagine having three whatever those are??? I'd settle for a dryer that dries faster!

Let's not even get into the futility of folding clothes, putting them away and the daily struggle that is!

Our next area of futility for me is toys. I don't know how we have accumulated so much, how it seems to multiply in the toy bins, or why my children can clean up any other place they are, but at home. I guess it could be worse - they could actually NOT play with any of their toys. But they do - all the time. They just don't put anything away in the right place, which leads to bigger and bigger messes. I have tried countless times to sort though the toys, arranged them in the appropriate bins, took pictures of the toys that belong in those bins and attached them so the kids could easily identify what goes where but they still just throw stuff into bins at random when I say clean up. Thus causing them to not know where particular items are which leads them to dump EVERY bin in the area out until they find what they were looking for.

I guess if I try to look at things in a positive light, I could interpret the scattered toys as an inexpensive home security system. This batch of toys was dumped out right on the mat at the front door. Not that anyone uses our front door -we don't have any steps or a porch leading up to our front door, so it is basically a door to nowhere. But in case someone did try to come in our front door, there is this nice mound of toys for them to have to get past.

Fortunately, this mound of toys is also smack dab at the bottom of the stairs too - so it is a double whammy of deterring burglars and damaging Momma's bare feet. Nothing like a plastic farm animal to wake you up in the morning!

Well, I suppose my rant on the futility of chores around this place has been futile. In the time it took to post this, I probably could have had all of it cleaned up. I just needed to vent a bit.

And as my dear neighbor, Donna, tells me, the children will be grown up before I know it and I will miss the days of seeing these toys, mounds of laundry and crumbs on the floor.

I'm sure I will, but right now dreaming of the future is just futile.