Time Off

What is that? Well as nature would have it, we all got sick. All at once. We already took the week or two off before we got physically sick because I was just mentally sick. Then once I got physically sick, I had a full on panic attack that turned into asthma attach or a mock asthma attack. I do not have asthma. And it lasted for 4 hours. I thought I was going to slip away and not wake up. For real. I actually went to our ER. I was scared. So I took another couple of weeks off. Now I feel great! 

There are some aspects of our curriculum that I am not loving. Some I threw out of our lesson plans. Some we will finish the year up with and try something new next year. Oh the joys of homeschooling. I'm a planner. I like to make plans and write it all out. What looks great on paper and in theory sometimes does not manifest as well in reality. Bummer. But back to the lesson plans and the internet once again. 

After the holiday I need to add my soon-to-be-4-year-old to our lessons too. She can already count and knows her colors and shapes and can even recognize some of the alphabet and knows the sounds. Hmmm. Maybe I should have included her in the beginning like I thought. Lesson learned to listen to your intuition. Mine has never failed me yet. Only I have failed it. 

I will find what works and I know it will change. Homeschooling is a living breathing entity. It changes and evolves just as my kids do. My kids are the ones changing and succeeding. I love what I do. 

Managers of Their Homes, a photo by Southernmommie on Flickr.

I just received these books in the mail this past week. I have been devouring the first one. I can't wait to get started on our family schedule.

I have heard many wonderful things about this ministry from the christian blog and websites I frequent. I've been waiting for the moment I would be able to get them. (Thank you Jesus!)

I have read and tried different scheduling books, but I have felt God leading me to this set. I bought them from Titus2 ministry.

A Diagnosis

I believe that we finally have an answer and a solution to our lack of weight gain for the baby. Hallelujah! We are starting a trial of medicine to help with the acid reflux. The doctors missed it beforehand because he didn't have the tell-tale sign of spitting up or vomiting. But this specialty pediatric doctor caught it. Hopefully caught it. We are hoping that it clears up in a couple of weeks. However, if by 4 weeks it hasn't, then a camera tube will be inserted down his throat. (I cringe when I think about my poor little 13 pound 7 month old having to endure that!)

We also are advised to change his diet. No more dairy, eggs, fish, or citrus foods. Also, no more jar baby foods that you buy. The water content is high and I need to start making our own foods. Another addition is to add the baby cereal back into his diet. He needs the iron.

He had a tongue tie clipped when he was 5 days old. It is also needing to be clipped again. And come to find out, he also has an upper lip tie, which I knew nothing about! I didn't know that was possible. I guess anything can be possible with the human body.

My poor baby has been hurting for over 4 months now and we didn't catch it! I feel so rotten. Like I have failed him. I am so thankful that this is such an easy fix and can be done without being invasive. I really pray that this is the answer. It is so hard to see your baby and know that he's in pain and have the doctors brush your concerns aside. I am so frustrated with our previous doctors!

I celebrate a little each day knowing that this is the longest I have ever breastfed any of my children. Woohoo! Do you know what a feat that is? Especially with this baby. As I look in the past with the other children I wonder if that is why we always weaned so early with them. Were they also hurting and this was the answer for them? They each had their own symptoms that point to it in hindsight. But you know what? Everything happens for a reason. God has a plan and this is how it played out. I trust in Him.

We have a few events going on here. I am still reading through our book with the book club. Ministry of Motherhood is a really good read. Being a mom is my ministry. Raising the children that God has blessed my husband and I with are my priorities. My husband is my priority. There is no higher calling than them. My home is where I dwell and work. And I love it. The devil has tried to pull me away. Tried to seduce me with being a worldly woman instead of a Godly woman. He has tried to tempt me and to neglect my family and my calling. But I now know what my calling is.

Life has taken us on a new path. A vegan path. Now I have to admit, I am not entirely sure I know the definition or what the distinction is for vegetarians. That is something I need to look up. Our darling little boy, who is now 7 months old, is not gaining weight or pooping. He weighs as much as he did at 3 1/2 months old. He is also very irritable during and after feeding if he doesn't fall asleep while nursing.

Yes, we are still breastfeeding. I refuse to switch to formula for a couple of reasons. One, because formula is not as beneficial health wise for him. Two, because he gags on any type of artificial nipple be it from bottles or pacifiers.

He did have a tongue tie that we had clipped when he was 5 days old. A friend of mine familiar with tongue ties explained that a second clipping might be needed. We have already seen the ENT specialists but the specialist that is a pediatric ENT wasn't there that day and only works one day a week. I couldn't be "squeezed" in for 2 weeks. His appointment is next week.

I've had his blood glucose levels checked and they are fine. I've had the first round of allergy testing done, the blood RAST test. He also checked out in normal ranges there too. I will be asking for a skin test and the ALCAT test next for delayed reactions. If everything still turns up in the normal range, I don't know what else to look for. I suppose xrays and ultrasounds to make sure his digestion tract is formed normal. There is a whole host of possibilities if he isn't having allergic reactions or a tongue tie issue.

Hence why we started the vegan path. It started with the possibility of cutting out dairy out of our diets. The more I started reading, the more I learned the myths that the cattle farmers don't want you to know. It would kill their business. But I won't explain any of that here. You wouldn't believe me anyway unless you were ready to hear it. So when you are ready to hear it, do your own research. You have to be responsible for your own health and well being. You just cannot take someone else's word for it. It might be wrong. Intentional or unintentional.

I feel that this is the most natural next step for us. I won't lie. Making out the menu and the grocery list was hard. What was harder was finding all the ingredients. I shopped 3 stores. Thank you to our local military Commissary, Whole Foods, and Amazon.com!

So far I've made 2 dinners. Last night was Teriyaki Rice Bowl from the book above. Tonight was Loaded Baked Potato. Which for me, needed some tweaking but was good. I borrowed this book from a friend of mine and thought the recipes sounded good. I then ordered the book from Amazon. It arrived today!!

If you are a vegan, lend your thoughts. What was easy for you, what was hard, what is your advice for beginners?

Thanks for stopping by.

Blogging

What is it about sitting down to blog that is so hard for me?

Okay, okay, okay. You can all stop laughing at me now. With 4 kids and a baby it can be a little difficult to sit down with a laptop and blog. There are some life changes that are going on.

We have decided to homeschool our kids starting this fall. I will be leading our 4th grader and 1st grader in their education. I could start with Kindergarten also, but I don't want to rush her. I am happy just letting her listen in with the older 2 and pick up what she may. I am gathering information on the things that I will need both curriculum wise and furniture and supplies wise. I am almost there completing my list of what all I need.

Baby boy is also completely "failure to thrive" only in height and weight. Developmentally he is exactly where he needs to be if not doing more. He is crawling and trying to stand up on his own. He babbles and tries to sit up on his own. But he only weighs about 13 pounds and is 7 months old. He started out in the 80 percentile range and since about 3 months his gains slowed and at 4 months just stopped completely. So we're working on that.

The summer season is here (not officially), and we aren't ready. The weather is cool and rainy (still) and the kids are still in school. But in their defense, their school is on the year-round schedule and they don't even get out till late July! Talk about hard! You try having a bedtime when the sun is still up an hour after going to bed. The sun sets late here at that time of year.

In addition to all this, the hubbs and I have agreed on moving into a 5 bedroom house. He has some paperwork to attend to and then we will do what we can. So hopefully by the fall we will be in a 5 bedroom house! I'm actually looking forward to it. We will have a bigger kitchen and dining room area which is sorely needed here.

I'll let you know how my garden has done so far. It's quite the riot! Stay tuned...

It is that time of year again. Spring cleaning. I don't normally do a once a year top to bottom cleaning. I do little by little throughout the year. However, I do go through twice a year and do a little more of the big tasks. One of my biggies is shampooing our carpets. Moving furniture to vacuum behind them and shampoo or sweep and mop.


What are some of your favorite homemaking or cleaning books? Here are 2 of mine. I have many more that I love. I refer to them time and time again.



I am planning a trip next month. I've made out my packing list. However, there are so many things that need to be done here around the house before I go. Including the spring cleaning. I have a garden to get ready and planted. All this in addition to the every day goings on here. We are already behind on laundry from everyone getting sick and passing it back and forth.


I have started my list of what needs to be done before I go on my trip.. I'm not sure if I can get everything on it done. But I'm gonna give it a go. All this with my precious 4 month old that does not do well on his own.

Now what I mean by "on his own" isn't by any means cruelty. I'm talking like a few minutes of sitting in the bouncy seat. Or falling asleep in my arms nursing and then gently lying him down in the bassinet. Or even a few minutes of precious tummy time does not seem to be comfy for our little man. He seems to feel the happiest and most secure in mommy's loving arms. That just means I'm doing something right, right?

I will be taking another blogging break. This time due to illnesses running rampant in our home. Thank you for sticking with me. This time I have it. A different illness for the second time this year when we normally do not get anything. I look forward to posting soon. For the time being I only have the energy and consciousness to just read all of y'alls blogs.

Following...

"Not following any blogs." Really? I have a l-o-n-g list of blogs that I do follow that I just checked on yesterday from my dashboard. Where did they go and what happened? Has this happened to any of you?

I'm working on a project. I had to buy this little nifty sander to do it. No, I do not have tools. We only have a couple of screwdrivers and a hammer. That's it. We are slowly building up our tool selection. This is the first of many I plan to buy my hubby. I hope he enjoys using them.

This dresser I picked up for free. I do not remember where I picked it up at. I painted it pink for my girls room a couple years ago. I did not buy any hardware for it yet. We couldn't pick out what we wanted for it. After looking at it for a while, I decided to repurpose it. It will become a side table for my bed. I do not have a night stand and do not want to spend money on one either. So after reading some of your gorgeous decorating blogs, I've seen a couple that had dressers or tables beside your beds. And then it hit me. I had my eureka moment. I can do that!

So off to the handy dandy home improvement store to look for a paint card that matches the color in my head. And that paint color card jumped out at me! It was meant for me. When I finish the project dresser I will give details of the paint and hardware. I can't wait to see the finished piece.

There will be a blogging break.

My husband just had surgery yesterday on his shoulder. And I am sending my laptop off to Apple to get it fixed. Turns out there really is water damage on the inside of my Mac. Can't imagine how that got there. It couldn't have been the drinks my kids persist on walking around the house with when there is a toddle walking around grabbing everything within reach! Oh no... not that at all. The young guy working at my Apple store informs me that it will take about 5 days. (Ummmm. FIVE days?!?!) I can do it. I can do it. I can go without internet for 5 days.

OH YEAH!!! My husband's laptop just so happens to be in the back room. I can use his!! Seeing how everyone in our house uses his and it's not really portable with it's 15 second battery life and non working keyboard, I won't be using his to blog. Just to check my emails and facebook. Because I mean really.... who can live without checking their facebook?

See you all so very soon.

PROJECT 52: WEEK 1
Repetition

This week's project was a little hard to get started. As I looked around I suddenly found repetition everywhere. Above is the sorry state of our carpet. We are not allowed to replace it. It's not great looking. We try to shampoo it at least every 3 months. We do shampoo it no longer than every 6 months. You just have to when they get this old. (After the kids getting the stomach bug, it will be cleaned again very soon. Just waiting for the bug to leave our home!)

I love love love this painting. It is a collaborative masterpiece! It started out with my 3 year old painting. Then the older 2 kids came home from school and of course my 5 year old just HAD to paint too. They both sat in the one chair, bottom next to bottom, painting away. So of course I couldn't leave out this example of repetition! It's one of my favorites.

A sigh of relief and relaxation comes over me when I see this afghan. My sweet dear grandmother crochet this many many MANY moons ago. She gave this one to me after I married my husband while living in Japan. He commandeered it many times for his trips so he could have it on his bed when away from us. It was always on our bed when he was home. We would drag it out to the couch on cold evenings. Or even if it wasn't cold and we just wanted it with us while watching a good movie or even a good show. She's made us a few more, but this one is our most treasured one. At first, I hated the color combinations. That's not the case anymore.

So there you have it. My first week with Project 52.

I have a question for all you homemakers out there.


How do you mow? Now I know that must seem like an odd question. Why yes, yes it is. And yes, I am a little odd and ask questions like this out of the blue. My hubby often asks me how my train of thought wound up where it is.

Back to the question at hand. How do you mow? Do you mow around the perimeter of your yard and proceed in a box pattern until you are at the center? Or do you mow up and down neat little rows?

I am interested to hear how everyone else does it.

Project 365

I know I don't post as frequent as I want my favorite bloggers to post. How's that for hypocrisy? I found a remedy for that. (I really dislike Blogger right now. It's messing with my bold. It's not suppose to be bold right now. And no amount of clicking on the bold icon is helping undo it. ) How's that for irony. The icon is now showing that my letters are suppose to be bold and now they aren't. I quit trying to figure out Blogger some time ago. Maybe that's the reason for the infrequent blogging on my part. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. (Name that country song!)

Anyway, back to my topic. I tend to ramble. But we won't go there. Project 365. I came across a lovely blog the other day and have spent my last couple of days reading through it. (You MUST go check out her blog!) She is also participating in Project 365. I must go and get the link for ya. But the jist of it is this. Every week you post pictures of your week. Now that I think about it, shouldn't it be Project 52 then? Oh well. (Oh look! Now it decides to bold my letters!) Blogger is so funny! I just un-clicked bold and it works now! I am not even going to try and go back to undo the bold letters. Let it be. Back to the subject. I know I am starting late, but better late than never right? Or does that only apply to gifts, thank you notes, greeting cards, and flowers? I'd like to think not.

I like the idea of this project. It will force me to learn my camera better than I do now. Which isn't saying much but that is why I am doing this. I love my camera. I love pictures of my kiddos and our life over the past few years since I've gotten said camera. So this is right up my alley.

I would love to take photography classes at any of the local colleges and universities around here. (And a french course.) But that must wait until the babies are a little older and can handle a few hours without momma. (Do they ever reach that age?)

Ooooh. I hear a certain little baby of mine in his bouncy seat poopin'. It's diaper changing time. I must go now and get him cleaned up. I will post links soon. Stay with me. I'm not bailin' on ya.

ps. I must take a picture of the state of my laptop and show you how I am typing on this bad boy! You'd be amazed.


Edited to add: I should get the blonde moment of the day award! The blog that I got the photo idea from did take a photo a day for the Project 365. I know that I won't be as dedicated further down the line. So I googled "project 52" through Swagbucks instead. Oh the possibilities that came up! So I decided to follow this Project 52. And I'll start this week. Yay!! now to add those links.

Here is my baby sleeping. I know most of you have seen a sleeping baby before. So you might be asking yourself why this momma of 5 children is taking a pictures of her baby sleeping. Well, it goes like this. This baby doesn't sleep without his mommy very often. I'm amazed that he's still sleeping right now in the same exact spot at this picture! It's been over 5 minutes! It's been almost an hour now. See, this particular cutie is breastfed (as all mine were at this age) and the only spot he prefers is snuggled on my booby or actually breastfeeding. Any other position just will not do for this little man. So if I can get him to sleep while me NOT holding him, that leaves my hands free to take precious pictures while I can!


Hence, why I kept him in the carseat. I know it's not good for his spine to stay like that. He won't be like this very often. We came back from the store getting some groceries. We were out of a few necessities. Now this momma can write this blog post and then get something to eat before it's time to feed again.


Look at this little cutie. I caught her sitting in this basket drawer but by the time I came back with the camera she was standing. This is her favorite play time now. She takes the kitchen towels out of this and then takes the lining out. You can see it off to the left of the standing princess. Then she'll sit in it and then sing. LOL. Such the cutie! This wicker basket drawer thingy I got when we were stationed in Japan. I bought it out in town at a Japanese store. It was like a Japanese version of Target with many floors. This store had 3 or 4 floors. It's been some time ago and I don't really remember which it was. I've used it for various things in my home throughout the years. Right now it serves to hold my kitchen dish rags, kitchen hand towels, and the top drawer is just a baby bib drawer.



I just HAD to take a picture of this cute little outfit! My little slugger! Both of my handsome men. The only one I'm missing in this picture is the 8 year old slugger. He's not into mom taking pictures of him anymore. The only way I can get him in a picture now is to be with his little brother whom he absolutely ADORES! But he was too busy watching the movie on tv to be bothered with a picture. Kids.


She is only 14 months old, but she is just as much a toddler as my 2 year old is. She just can't talk yet.

I am finding that it is harder than I thought having a baby and a 1 year old. This is the closest of my babies in years. It's just shy of 2 years between this girl and the 2 year old. (She's almost 3.) But this time, I have 2 babies. One can walk, thank goodness, but can't go down the stairs by herself. And only because I don't want her falling so I haven't been letting her. She climbs onto the tops of all the tables. She scoots chairs to where she wants to go. She climbs to the tops of the back of the couch. Anywhere she can get her little leg up to, she's up on. I'm so thankful that she still naps. She is only napping once a day, but I still need her to take that one to give mommy a break. Daddy is still off so having him home has helped tremendously! But I need to figure out how to keep the home from being a wreck, laundry kept up, and keeping up with the needs of my 2 babies and diapers changed on all 3. Whew! That sounds like a lot even without the extra cleaning that needs to be done on top of that! Right now, we are only sweeping the kitchen and dining room, mopping, and vacuuming the downstairs. That's it! That's all we have time for. Dishes are like 2-3 loads a day! Which that won't be so many once Daddy goes back to work. (Two weeks from now.)

So in light of the upcoming schedule with Daddy going back to work, I am going to try to get little guy on a routine. I did it with baby girl, but I also stopped breastfeeding her and switched to formula in her second month. Way too early, but I had to have surgery. So with this one, I want to keep at it as long as possible. Sometimes I think it would just be so much easier and I could get so much more done around the house if I just switched to formula and brought the swing out of the garage. But then I realize that I wouldn't be as bonded with him and my milk supply would dwindle. Both things I am not ready to battle yet. I think in a month or so, around the 3 month mark, I could start introducing more. My milk supply is so sensitive that I need baby to be on me for the first few months in order to establish a good strong supply that won't diminish later when changes to the routines happen. The only thing is that waiting that long is hard for me. I want to get up and get stuff done and get the errands done and keep up on the organization and cleaning. But I have to rest and not try to be supermom.

Okay folks. Baby is starting to stir and I still need to grab a bite to eat. Love y'all. And don't forget to take some time out of the busy shopping, decorating, errands to run, and just BE with your loved ones!

It’s All in the List by Daryl Hoole

You can bring order out of life’s chaos by making lists. The best way to talk about the benefits of list making for successful home and life management is to simply make a list of the many benefits. So, here goes:

A list . . .

* Allows you to put the pressure on paper rather than on your mind. In other words, instead of feeling the weight of so much to do on your mind, it helps to “set it down,” so to speak, on paper or an electronic device.

* Does not change all that needs to be done, but writing it down can help you feel more in control of the situation.

* Helps you get to your appointments on time. One’s mind is not intended to be a calendar.

* Helps you keep things from “falling through the cracks.” From an efficiency perspective, a sharp pencil is better than a sharp memory.

* Keeps track of where and when something needs to be done—it can prevent double scheduling.

* Is something to check off so when you go on a trip you take everything you need. It can be a serious problem to open your bag and find you left your prescription medicine at home.

* Is a storehouse for ideas. Ideas, like birds, fly in and out and can become lost unless you catch them and “cage” them.

* Is only as good as it is read.

* Has no magic in it. It works only when you do.

* Helps you direct your efforts and focus on whatever task is at hand. It’s an anti “spin your wheels” technique.

* Drives you to get things done. In the words of William James, “Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.”

* Enables you to see the beginning and the end of your work. Knowing where to start and when to stop is a favor you can bestow upon yourself.

* Makes it easier to prioritize your tasks. According to Stephen R. Covey, “The key is not to prioritize your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”

* Can be a procrastination deterrent. Personal discipline can be cultivated, and a list can be an aid in such an endeavor.

* Gives you a track to run on. Even if you run a bit behind, you’re still on track. Someone quipped, “I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I’ve finished my list; the bad news is that it’s yesterday’s list.”

* Provides a plan from which you can arrange your life to suit the situation. Elder Dallin H. Oaks put it well when he said, “Plan specifically so you can implement flexibly.”

* Is therapeutic. Crossing items off can energize and motivate, providing a sense of satisfaction, fulfillment, and peace. (Sometimes it can provide encouragement to list things that you’ve already done, just to cross them off. It’s evidence that you are productive.)

* Helps you to follow through, carry out intentions, and keep your promises which may include returning what you borrow.

I saw this on Mrs. Teresa A. Haley's blog; Practical Housewifery. If you haven't yet visited this blog I encourage you to do so.

Lynda

Here is my most wonderful hubby completing a project that I started before I gave birth 5 weeks ago. I didn't finish painting the foyer. So here he is completing the painting before we decorate the tree this weekend. The color is Cafe Latte by Glidden. The mirror I got at Ross. I've been reading on the blogs that a lot of you decorators get your gorgeous goods at Home Goods. So I went online and was disappointed that you can't order from them. The store locator says the nearest one is like a 45 minute drive away. I know what I'm doing next week. I'm going to make a trip out there and see if it is worth the drive. I mean, we have a ton of Ross stores around and quite a few T.J. Maxx stores also. Are the things in Home Goods a better selection? Let me know.


Here is a snapshot of baby Aidan's growth over the past few weeks. We've been really busy just sitting here breastfeeding that I haven't had a chance to take many pictures of him. (Much less me get dressed most days.)

3 weeks: 9lbs 2oz.


4 weeks: 9 pounds 10 oz.

5 weeks: 10 pounds 4 oz.

At this point my previous babies were already snug in their 0-3 month clothes. This little guy is just barely fitting them. He's such a cute little guy! I'm so smitten with him. I'm trying to wrap my mind around him being our last baby. I don't know where I stand. Whether or not I'm ready to be done having more adorable babies. I am but at the same time I'm not so sure.

I know many of you are all done decorating your lovely homes for the holidays. We are working slowly here. I am not able to get much done with a little one that doesn't sleep unless on the boob snuggling or nursing. So my time with him actually laying down in the play yard is spent helping hubby with the home. He isn't use to doing everything so I try to help him as much as I can until little man lets me. There is dishes to unload or load into the dishwasher. Clothes to wash for all of us and of course the cloth diapers and cloth wipes to wash too. Which is what I should be doing right now instead of posting here. There is a load of diapers waiting to be washed right now. Hang on here and I'll get the first cycle started and I'll be right back.

Okay. Done.
Thank you for sticking with me even though I haven't been posting daily or even weekly. I have been reading yours though. I can sit here and breastfeed and scroll through my list of updated blogs one handed really well! It's just really time consuming to type out a post one handed. Lol. Especially with pictures. And as my family can tell you, I am a visual type person. I like pictures!!

Merry Christmas y'all! Don't forget to take a time-out from the stress from the holidays and spend with your loved ones.

Look at my newest cutie! My little Halloween baby. I am so in love with this little guy. He is already teaching me to slow down. We are learning each other. He had a posterior tongue tie that we had clipped when he was 5 days old. Now we are finally getting the breastfeeding down really good. I'm no longer hurting when he nurses and he's gaining weight. Yay! Baby Aidan is awake and alert more. He calms when he hears my voice. He also sleeps without me holding him for more than 5 minutes about once a day too. Which helps me either get 1 thing done or get some bread ready to bake. He is such a lovely little boy. Can you tell that I am in love with my kids?!



This is a Christmas gift that I am knitting for my precious little 1 year old baby girl. Can you tell what it is? It's a Dachshund Balloon Animal from Lion Brand Yarn's website. It is a simple knit. If you are a beginner, then you can definitely knit this one up. I have ordered some wool filling for it so that my baby girl will have something to play with that isn't full of chemicals. It won't be harmful for her and even the littlest one will be able to play with it without harm to his little body also. So win-win for me!

I'm revamping my home. More homemade and less chemicals. Simplifying. Right now I'm reading Simplicity Parenting. I've been using less store bought cleaning supplies and using environmentally friendly cleaning supplies from Shaklee, but now I'm going even further and will use mostly homemade cleaners once I run out of what I have. As for the store bought, I will keep my Simple Green and bleach and will give away the rest that I have. I have a lot too. When my neighbors move, they give me all their cleaners. (The movers are not allowed to pack up and ship chemicals.)

I've got all the makings for homemade laundry detergent. I'm waiting on all my makings to make homemade soap. I should be receiving the rest sometime this week or next week. I can't wait to try my hand at making homemade soap. I plan to give some for Christmas gifts to the parents this year. I was planning on knitting some dish cloths to go with their homemade soap as gifts, but I'm not sure I'll get it all knitted that I want knitted for gifts. They may be late gifts. We'll see. This year is a more handmade/homemade Christmas. It goes in line with my new simplifying way of life I'm slowly incorporating into my home.

What are your plans for Christmas gifts this year?

What do you want your home life to convey to others? Do you want a warm and inviting, cozy and comfortable, or clean and sterile home? The way you care for your home can say a lot about you and who you are. Why do you keep home? Why do you stay at home? What is your motivation?



My home is not the cleanest there is. Nor is the most organized that it can be. It is definitely lived in. I have a loving family that lives here. Fully lives here. I'm not the kind of mom that has the kids in a million activities that are outside the home. I am not spending a lot of my time in the vehicle driving from one place to another. We truly spend our time here at home. The kids might be outside playing with the neighborhood kids or they are playing inside with each other. Or they are relaxing watching a movie or a favorite cartoon. The point is, we love being home.



I love to get ready for the different seasons in our home. There are pumpkins here and there. Little fall leaves grace shelves. Fall scents fill our home with our Scentsy wax warmer. Since I've gotten our warmer, I have been in total love with it!



I have been rereading some of my favorite homemaking books also. Right now I am reading Home Comforts The Art and Science of Keeping House by Cheryl Mendelson. I would like to leave you with some of the wisdom that pours from this book.

Making a home attractive helps you feel at home, but not nearly so much as most of us seem to think, if you gauge by the amounts of money we spend on home furnishings. And going in for the nostalgic pastimes- canning, potting, sewing, making Christmas wreaths, painting china, decorating cookies- will not work either. I count myself among those who find these things fun to do, but I know from experience that you cannot make a home by imitating the household chores and crafts of a past era. Ironically, people are led into the error of playing house instead of keeping house by genuine desire for a home and its comforts. Nostalgia means, literally, "home-sickness".
What really does work to increase the feeling of having a home and its comforts is housekeeping. Housekeeping creates cleanliness, order, regularity, beauty, the conditions for health and safety, and a good place to do and feel all the things you wish and need to do and feel in your home. Whether you live alone or with a spouse, parents, and ten children, it is your housekeeping that makes your home alive, that turns it into a small society in its own right, a vital place with its own ways and rhythms, the place where you can be more yourself than you can be anywhere else.

You can enjoy keeping house. No one is too superior or intelligent to care for hearth and home.

Each of its regular routines brings satisfaction when it is completed. You get satisfaction not only from the sense of order, cleanliness, freshness, peace and plenty restored, but from the knowledge that you yourself and those you care about are going to enjoy these benefits.

Here are the pictures as promised. Above is my breadmaker. It is showing the dough rising. Actually this is when it was finished rising. Below are the rolls rising again for another 30 minutes with a towel draped over them to keep the draft off of them.



Here is said towel. It is a flour sack cloth from Wal-mart. Very handy towels to have around. I've used them for drying dishes, straining tea when making hot tea from loose herbs, and for wiping dirty faces and hands while eating. I do have 4 kids around here.


And here they are finally done. Baby girl and I enjoyed ours after they cooled a bit with some organic strawberry jelly we saw at Costco. They were devine! And also the perfect size for Hubby's sandwiches at work.

I love how they connect and then tear apart. I know. The small things are what amuses me. I will share the recipe here. I saw it on the blog I shared the other day with you. Down-to-earth.

BREAD ROLLS RECIPE:

I'm making these again today to make sure of my amounts. I'm pretty sure this is what I used yesterday. I rarely use written recipes so this is just from my head. If there needs to be a change, I'll let you know later this morning.

Recipe for bread rolls in the bread machine
• 3½ cups bread flour - can be white, wholemeal, rye, grain - whatever. If you use a heavier flour you'll need to increase the amount of water used.
• 1 teaspoon salt. Please use good salt, not table salt. Even cooking salt is better than table salt.
• 1 tablespoon butter
Put all the above in your bread machine bucket.


In a teacup add and mix up:
• ¾ cup lukewarm water
• ½ tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons yeast

•
• plus another cup of warm water - I can't tell you the exact amount of water you'll use. That will depend on your flour and the weather. Start with the 1¾ cups and you might have to add more.
Mix the ingredients in the cup and allow to stand for 5 minutes. You want your yeast to prove - it will look like this:



If the yeast doesn't froth up, it's dead and you'll have to buy new yeast. Always store your yeast in the fridge, it will keep longer. When the yeast is frothy and bubbling, add it to the dry mix, making sure all the sugar is either dissolved or added to the flour mix. Turn your machine on to the "dough" setting and let it mix the dough.
When it's finished, remove the dough and roll it into a long cigar shape - about 12 inches long. Cut into about 8 pieces for large rolls or 12 pieces for small rolls. Take each piece of dough and work it with your hands into a nice round ball. Place all the balls on a baking tray, add seeds, polenta or a criss-cross and allow to rise for about 30 minutes - depending on the temperature in your house. If you can put them in the sun they'll only take about 10 minutes to rise.
Turn on your oven so it's hot when you put the rolls in. Bread has two types of rising - one is from the yeast you use, the other is called "oven lift" - you get this when you put properly proved bread dough into a HOT oven. The heat immediately starts to lift the bread. That, my friends is what you want. Adding dough to a warm oven won't give you the same result.
Good luck with your rolls, everyone.
OOPS - ruralinspirations has just reminded me I didn't tell you about the temp for baking these rolls. As I said, put the rolls into a HOT oven (that is one that has been sitting on at least 200C for about 10 minutes). Then cook on 200C (395F) until they're golden brown and you can smell baked bread.
YET ANOTHER UPDATE...
I tested the above recipe and everything is fine. Just monitor the water yourselves as it's always a bit different. Pictured below are today's bread rolls, just out of the oven.


Happy baking everyone!


A wonderful blog. I'm still reading through the past posts. I have yet to reach the beginning.

I still haven't downloaded those pictures off my camera! I feel more and more blonde the older I become. Or is it the more pregnant I am? I wasn't able to finish my grocery shopping that I had planned for yesterday. So hubby was nice enough to get a ride to work again today so that I could have the truck to finish up. (And he overslept this morning while his friend was waiting outside. Poor guys.) We are really going to enjoy this weekend! I am behind on laundry. I'm looking forward to it in an odd sort of way. I normally do not enjoy laundry, but the whole process of sorting and washing, hanging outside on the line, bringing it in to fold... is sort of growing on me now that I've started doing it this way. I try not to use the dryer. But when I'm really tired and need something quick, I'll throw it in the dryer so I can get through it quicker. I won't be making any bread today. I won't be home to watch it while it rises. And since I didn't get everything bought yesterday, once I get home, I'll have to start one of the meals right away and then finish cleaning up the kitchen while it cooks. Not my ideal, but whatever I have to do to make it work.

Our pantry is in our laundry room. And I've recently found an old bag of potatoes rotting. We've had an awful lot of fruit flies flying around and just could not figure out where they were coming from. Found them! So sometime this afternoon, I have to drag everything out and completely wipe out all the shelves and get rid of anything else that might be old or expired. I have a lot to get done today and I'm still really tired. A nap might be in the plans later on. I'm still working on a knitted pattern for my Swiffer. I modified one I found online and the pattern I was working with was sideways to the way I wanted it to run. So I frogged it and will start over.

Well, I hope y'all are having a wonderful day today.