Dad got a 17-lb turkey from work last week, and we cooked it for just the four of us for Thanksgiving.  I made a huge batch of turkey soup and froze at least three meals' worth, and we still feel like we have turkey coming out of our ears... which is a good thing, because we all love turkey. 

Since I haven't cooked since Thursday, I'm ready to jump back into my meal planning!  Here's what I have for the week ahead:

Monday  Pork chops, leftover baked sweet potatoes, cauliflower.

Tuesday  Shrimp with stir fry vegetables over brown rice.

Wednesday  Spaghetti and meatballs, fried eggplant.

Thursday  Turkey soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, raw veggies.

Friday  Ham, pineapple, mashed potatoes, carrots.

Saturday  Leftovers.

Sunday  Breakfast for dinner: eggs, pancakes, ham, fruit.

I should explain about the ham... for spending $300 during the month of November at Shop Rite, we were eligible for a free turkey or shank ham.  Since we obviously didn't need any more turkey (nor did we have the room for one in our freezer), we got the ham instead.  Not only will we have lots of turkey packaged in the freezer, but I'm sure we'll end up with quite a bit of ham as well!

You can find more Monday Meal Plans at OrgJunkie.

Happy Monday!

Stop the presses!  Dad opened the blinds this morning and this is what we saw:

R, who has not ever seen snow that she can remember, yelled "pieces of cloud are falling!"  Both kids ran outside in their sweatpants and tshirts and scooped up some of the flurries and brought them in to examine them.  The neighbors (well, if any were awake) must have thought it was quite a site to see me snapping pictures outside the front door.... oh well, we still have our Florida license plates on our car, so I think that excuses us.  ;)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! 

Let's see... we've had some fun the past few days! 

Last week, J got his orange belt in his taekwondo class.  I actually had brought my camera to the belt ceremony, but I was the only parent who planned to take pictures and I felt a little sheepish at the last minute and didn't take one.  I don't know why I didn't follow through... they think I'm one of THOSE meddling moms anyway.  But I did take a picture of him with his orange belt once we got home:

For the month of November, we've been learning about the Pilgrims and the Mayflower.  So far we've gotten to the point that the Pilgrims were foraging for food in what is now Massachusetts and they met Squanto.  Earlier this week, we made Native American head-dresses and the kids wanted to make some bows and arrows.  We braved the freezing (literally!) temperatures to find some sticks, and J found a package of rubber bands in the garage.  They used a variety of objects for arrows: Lincoln logs, markers, a thin wooden dowel.  Here they are with their bows:

Isn't that cute?

And finally, Dad has made an honest woman out of me after all these years:

Nah, I'm just kidding.  I stopped wearing my rings a couple of years ago because I had eczema on my left hand and the rings seemed to make it worse.  When the eczema cleared up, oh, maybe last year, I realized that my rings did not fit anymore!    Well, we have a guarantee with the jeweller that they will repair the rings to keep them wearable for a lifetime, and I found out that resizing was included!  I just got them back yesterday.  They also soldered them together so that they don't twist... that was always so annoying!

Today we have some errands to run, though I admit I'm not terribly motivated, seeing that it's 19 degrees outside right now.  Hopefully it warms up a little!  Have  a great weekend!

I participated in another one of Monica and Carrie's shoebox swaps a couple of weeks ago!  My partner was Ruth, who is the mom of Monica and Carrie.  The theme was "Harvest," and here is a picture of most of what Ruth sent me:

Missing from the picture are a leaf-shaped hole punch (the kids ran off with that as soon as I opened the box!) and a memo pad that someone stuck on the fridge immediately.  The oatmeal was really yummy, as was the coffee... even better than Dunkin Donuts!  ;) 

Thanks Ruth, for being a great swap partner!  It was fun getting to know you!  And thank you to Carrie and Monica for hosting yet another wonderful swap!  You can go to this post on Carrie's blog to read about what everyone else in the swap sent and received.

Today (Sunday) I made a roast in the crockpot... it was so good!  I have to say that I really love making and eating cold-weather foods.  Here is our menu plan for the week.  I'm trying tome new recipes this week, and I posted the links to those. 

Monday  Beef stew in the crockpot (with leftovers from the roast), homemade honey wheat bread, raw veggies.

Tuesday  Broccoli quiche, sausage (for Dad and the kids; I don't eat it, yuck!), fruit, leftover honey wheat toast.

Wednesday  Crockpot shepherd's pie.

Thursday  Chinese takeout!

Friday  Shrimp alfredo over pasta, a veggie on the side.

Saturday  Bacon wrapped chicken in the crockpot, adapted from this recipe.

Sunday  Not sure yet... we'll what leftovers we have and what is on sale at the grocery store and decide from there!

You can find more recipes and menu plans at OrgJunkie.

Happy menu planning! 

Aak, I did not keep up with my blogging OR my haven making.  I did get some cleaning and tidying done... the laundry mountain is all put away (well, for now anyway), the rooms got vacuumed, and the bathroom is clean... but it's all stuff that will have to be done again in a few days.  I find it pretty frustrating, actually, to actually post about doing these things knowing they'll have to get done again tomorrow anyway.  The car did not get cleaned, and I know that once I do it, it will stay clean for longer than any room in the house, so that is a good thing.

Okay, Thursday Thirty One.  We're on verse 20. 

 20 She opens her arms to the poor
       and extends her hands to the needy.

This time of year especially, I think most of us look into where we can volunteer, donate, make a difference.  I know that we plan on making a Thanksgiving basket for our church to donate, we'll probably choose a needy child "angel" off of the Salvation Army Christmas tree, and donate food to the food pantry (which in our area is very, very low on food, probably due to the economy and more people using it... yours in your area might be low too, so I urge you to look into this matter and donate if you can).  Some people do this all year long, which is great.

I see that this verse does not say "she gives money to the needy" or "she donates food to the needy," though.  It says she "extends her hands" to the needy.  Now for me, and probably for most of us, it's so much more comfortable to write a check or drop off a donation, and consider my giving "done."  I don't actually SEE the people I'm helping, though.  I don't see their faces, and they don't see mine.  I don't reach out my hands to them and hand them what I'm offering, and I don't reach out my hands and touch them at all.

A woman who lives next door volunteers at the food pantry with her young granddaughter once per week... I've been thinking about asking her about volunteering there some time with the kids.  That would put a face on the people who are needy and who the food is helping.  I think it would be important for me to do this for my own benefit, as well as for the kids...  they know that we might put canned foods in a box, but can they really comprehend that this food is going to people who truly do not have the resources to go to the grocery store and choose and purchase their own? 

Something to think about for the next week!

Happy Thursday!

I'm joining Monica at The Homespun Heart in her endeavor this week to make her home a haven.  Today's mission is clutter-busting, and we NEED to do that!  I can keep the main living areas fairly clutter-free each day, but my bedroom becomes a dumping ground for clean laundry, catalogs, mail, crafts the kids want to keep but I don't have a place for, and about a million other things.  The kids' rooms need attention as well, and don't even ask me what our van looks like!  You can join her too, if you want, and if you have a blog, you can sign up on her Mr. Linky.

We are taking today and tomorrow off from doing schoolish things to work on our home ec project.  Learning to declutter is one of those real-life lessons that's probably more important than today's spelling lesson anyway. 

My list for today:

Quick pickup of living room and kitchen

Finish laundry... I have one dirty load on the bathroom/laundry room floor.

Put away many loads of clean laundry that are stacked up in my bedroom!

Clean off shelves in the master bedroom, and my bureau, which is a major Hot Spot.

Help kids (especially R) tidy up their rooms.

I'll probably save our van for tomorrow, which is a "cleaning" day, as there's probably more garbage in there than anything else, yuck!

I also have my menu plan done for this week, so here that is:

Monday  Baked potatoes with leftover chili, broccoli, and cheese.

Tuesday  Flounder, brown rice, mixed vegetables.

Wednesday  Pierogies (frozen ones) with onions and a greenbean/corn mixture.

Thursday  Spaghetti with turkey meatballs, raw vegetables.

Friday  Whole chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans.

Saturday  Leftovers.

Sunday  I'd like to make a roast of some sort, but we don't have any, so we'll see if I can find one on sale when I go grocery shopping on Friday or Saturday. 

Happy Menu Planning and/or Decluttering!

I thought that we didn't get much accomplished this week, but looking at my planner and thinking over the last few days, I guess we did do enough to consider it a good week, school-wise.  Here are some of the things we did:

*Went to lunch with my mom and grandmother.

*Looked at books in a used bookstore, where each kid picked out several books.

*J worked on multiplication for math.

*I think we only got through two spelling lessons this week.

*R is at a bit of a standstill as far as reading goes... I think we're going to put off finishing her 100 Easy Lessons (we're on lesson 40) for a while... we both get too frustrated, and it's not easy and fun for her anymore.  So we're taking a break.

*Played with Playdoh.

*Went to the library, where J picked out several chapter books.  (I don't know if he'll actually read them!)  I picked out some of the "Rose Years" Little House books for myself out of the children's department.  :)

*Read a couple of books about the Mayflower.

*Watched the Peanuts movies about the Mayflower and the first Thanksgiving.

*Made 9 reindeer (Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rulolph) plus Santa out of wooden clothespins.

*Looked up the history of St. Nicholas and how that morphed into the Santa Claus story.

*Watched some Betty Boop and old Looney Tune cartoons on YouTube.

*Rode bikes.

*Went to karate and dance classes.  (J tests for his orange belt next Tuesday!)

I'm sure there was more as well.... For the weekend, J has another karate class on Saturday, we're going to church Saturday evening, and we are having an early Thanksgiving dinner with my inlaws on Sunday, so we'll be pretty busy.  Have a good weekend!

 Hey, I almost forgot it was Thursday!  The kids clamoring about Survivor being on tonight reminded me.  And I get to watch Grey's as well, what a night!  I'm going to go through a couple of verses tonight.  Proverbs 31:18-19.

18 She sees that her trading is profitable,
       and her lamp does not go out at night

.

As you may or may not remember, I'm a fan of the Flylady.  She advocates having routines in place.  One of her suggestions is getting up a little earlier than everyone else in order to have quiet time and dress to shoes in peace.  Another of her suggestions which I try to follow is to get the kitchen in order BEFORE you go to bed.  It goes against everything I want, but I try to take this advice!  Making sure that everything is in order, even if only in one room, makes for an easier morning.

The Proverbs 31 wife's lamp does not go out at night, because she uses the time after dinner and cleanup to check her plans to be sure that what she's doing is "profitable," or right.  So many days I spin my wheels and get nowhere because I have no plan... taking the time the night before to mentally go over my day to see what went wrong and how I can plan better for the next day would be profitable.  This is another verse that shows that the Proverbs 31 wife is a planner.

 19 In her hand she holds the distaff
       and grasps the spindle with her fingers.

Okay, I needed some help with this verse, so I looked around online for some commentaries.  Basically, this verse is talking about spinning wool or flax.  The Proverbs 31 wife spun her own wool with her own hands.  She did not run out to Walmart for a new sweater, she knitted it herself with wool that she spun into yarn.  I think that to apply this to modern times, since most of us do not spin our own threads, we'd need to consider general craftiness, frugality, etc.  CAN I make clothing for my family, even though I don't have to?  Well.... no, not really.  I was able to make R an apron.  I can sew a split seam in a shirt.  I often have to re-sew Dad's buttons back onto his shorts (well, I did when he wore shorts everyday!).  Many homemaking skills have been lost, and simply have not been passed from generation to generation.  It would be nice to pick them back up... but in this season of my life, I'm simply not going to learn to sew outfits for my family, and I am certainly not going to spin wool.  Maybe when the kids grow up and move away, I can do it for my grandchildren!

.

Happy Thursday!

Well.  I haven't discussed the election or politics at all on my blog up until this point.  I have no desire to get into any sort of political debates with anyone, so I just didn't bring it up.

I will say now that I'm not thrilled with how the election turned out, but I'm also not surprised.  Record numbers of voters turned out at the polls, so that's great news.  Whether they were informed voters, I don't know... but people went out and had their voices heard!

Rudy Giuliani spoke last night on MSNBC, and he pointed out that as of this morning, we are all Americans, and we all need to come together to support our new President-elect.  And that is just what I intend to do!  So I'm happy for those who voted for and supported Obama, and I hope that he is truly up to leading our country towards change that will be good for all of us.

When I write out my menu plans, I put them in my homeschool planner.  There is an extra column after Friday, marked "Objectives," and since I don't use that column, I write down my seven days' worth of meals.  Looking back, I have lots of repeated meals, and I feel like we're in a little bit of a food rut.  Our freezer is stocked with whole chickens, various chicken parts, tons of shrimp, ground beef, and a couple of packages of pork (which I'm trying to use up and stop buying as pork chops, because we really don't like eating them all that much).  I need new ideas for meals!  Now I know that I could easily go over to the OrgJunkie website, where everyone posts their blog entries entitled "Menu Plan Monday," but I don't have time to wade through hundreds of blog entries.  Please give me your recipes for easy family favorites that I don't have in my general repetoire of foods.  Remember that we have three evenings per week that we are out at lessons during dinner-prep time, so ease and quickness is of paramount importance.  Crockpot meals are great (though I usually do check A Year of CrockPotting weekly).

Okay, without further ado or begging, here is our menu plan for the week:

Monday  Pork chops, stuffing, frozen mixed vegetables.

Tuesday  Chicken and broccoli alfredo over pasta.

Wednesday  Garlic scallops and spinach over rice, made by Dad.

Thursday  Sloppy Joes (ground venison, tomato sauce, onion, garlic, chili powder in the crockpot and served over hard rolls with sliced cheese) and green beans.

Friday  Baked potatoes with broccoli, cauliflower, cheese, and bacon on them.

Saturday  We will be going to church on Saturday evening, so we'll go to Hometown Buffet for dinner first, using a coupon that we got in the mail last week so that the kids can eat free!

Sunday  An early Thanksgiving dinner at my inlaws' house, because they will be on vacation for the actual day itself.

Looks like an easy week, food wise!

Happy Menu Planning!

All right, I'm back for this week's Thursday Thirty One.  I'm on Proverbs 31:17:

 17 She sets about her work vigorously;
       her arms are strong for her tasks.

Vigorously.  Do I set about my work (washing dishes, doing laundry, homeschooling, vacuuming) vigorously?  Hmmm....  Many times, I do these things because I have to, not because I'm excited to do them.  I don't know anyone who cleans a toilet with enthusiasm or with particular vim and vigor. 

A couple of weeks ago, the pastor at my church (yes, we've found a home church, by the way!) talked about being graceful in the face of the mundane.  Probably 90% of what all of us do is mundane.  The same thing day after day after day.  But God wants us to be JOYFUL!  He does not say that we should be joyful and vigorous only 10% of the time... we need to find joy in everything.  Even the mundane. 

A lot of times as I clean the kitchen after dinner, I'm tired and sometimes even cranky.  I don't respond with joy when the kids come out of their rooms with "one last" requests.  The reason for this is because my arms are no "strong for my tasks."  On the days where I eat well, and go for a walk outside, and even rest in the afternoon, I have lots of energy left after dinner to deal with the mundane tasks with vigor, if not enthusiasm.  Most of the time, though, I've eaten junk in the afternoon, had another cup of coffee when I'm feeling groggy, and put off that walk... and it shows.

Taking care of ourselves is not selfish, it's required!  How can we be strong for our tasks and vigorous when we have no energy left at the end of the day, or even in the middle of the day?  Resting for a half hour in the afternoon probably would also make it easier to get up while it's still dark (and the sun is rising pretty late here, at least until we set the clocks back)....  something I have been lax about these chilly mornings when I have a chatty little heater on each side of me in my nice warm bed after John leaves for work!

My mission for this week is to try to eat better, get outside daily (brr!), and even take a half hour nap in the afternoon instead of a cup of coffee.  I want my arms to be strong for my tasks so that I can complete them vigorously and cheerfully.

Wow, not having a menu plan last week totally did not work out well for me!  Lesson learned:  Even if Dad is traveling, a menu plan is a must.  Not only did our dinnertime foods get out of control, but everything seemed to fall apart.  Not having a plan after being used to having one was not a good thing.  So it goes without saying that I indeed have a menu plan this week:

Monday: Pork chops, egg noodles, carrots.

Tuesday: Whole chicken with BBQ sauce in the crockpot, mashed potatoes, mixed frozen vegetables.

Wednesday: Shepherd's pie with ground venison instead of ground beef.

Thursday: Pasta with alfredo sauce with shrimp, spinach, and lots of garlic (we're going to a Family Fun Fest at church afterwards, so we'll also have cotton candy, doughnuts, apple cider, etc).

Friday: Leftovers for Halloween night!

Saturday: I don't actually know yet what we'll have Saturday.  We have a birthday party to go to on Sunday, so we may end up going to church Saturday evening, and if we do, we'll likely pick up something quick on the way.

Sunday:  We are making garlic shrimp for the birthday party, and there will be lots of other food as well... then we'll just snack or finish up whatever leftovers we have at dinnertime.

As always, you can find other people's Menu Plan Mondays at OrgJunkie.com.

Have a great week... we need to have more of a limit on how much the computer and the tv are on, so I may not be back to update until my Thursday Thirty-One, which I definitely plan on doing this week!

Yesterday was "Bring a Buddy and Break a Board" day at J's karate class.  He brought his cousin to the class and got to show off that he was able to break a board.  It took a few tries, but he did it!  I don't have good picture-taking reflexes when it comes to time-sensitive photographs, but here he is before and after he broke his board.

After the first try, reviewing his techinque with his instructor:

Success!

Afterwards, we all came back here for Chinese food and for the kids to play.  J is keeping his board as a memento of his first board-breaking experience. 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

I missed my Thursday Thirty One yesterday, and I'm not going to do it right now... I'm having some time-management issues and need to get them under control!  If I have time, I'll do it later on, otherwise (and more likely) it will have to wait until next Thursday.

We haven't been all that busy this week... just little annoyances that keep popping up:  slow healing from my root canal (irritating achiness that took a long time to finally subside), a gas leak in the utility room right next to our apartment door,  cold weather that has me not wanting to get out of bed early, a traveling husband (he's back home now!), antsy children who have not been outside enough, and the list goes on.  I need to get back "on my game" so to speak.

So have a good weekend, enjoy the sun if you have it where you live, and I'll talk to you next week!

I did not do a menu plan yet for this week.  Dad is traveling until Wednesday, and when it's just me and the kids, we tend to eat leftovers, pasta, or pancakes.  I'll probably come up with something tomorrow for the rest of the week.

I had to break down and turn on the heat for a little while.  We don't have the type of thermostat that shows what the temperature actually is, so all I know is that when I woke up and put them on 58 degrees, all of the heaters clicked right on.  Brrr!  I still want to use them as sparingly as possible, as I know that much colder times (and high electric bills) are coming!

Speaking of heat, there was a gas leak in the utility room yesterday.  Dad's brother came over to check it out and he fixed it.  I still smelled gas this morning, so the gas company came out and said that the boilers just need a good cleaning.  I'm hoping the landlady takes care of this sooner rather than later. 

We did about half of school this morning, then the kids wanted to watch The Price is Right.  I'm considering just taking the rest of the day off to.... what?  I don't know.  We've only been doing school for maybe 8 weeks now?  And we're already in a rut.  Bleh.  It's probably this cold weather!  Maybe we'll bundle up and go for a walk in a little while.

All right, my fingers are cold from typing in my heatless bedroom, so I'll have to talk to you later!

For today's belated Thursday Thirty One, we're on Proverbs 31:16:

16 She considers a field and buys it;
       out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

The Proverbs 31 wife was intelligent and independent.  Although she undoubtedly was under the rule of her husband (as mentioned in other areas of the Bible), this passage says that SHE considers a field, and that out of HER earnings she plants a vineyard.

Being subject to one's husband does not mean that you must be in the dark about financial matters, that you have no say, or that you must consult with him over every little thing.  The Proverbs 31 wife had her own money (to buy a field with), could spend it how she liked (she considered her own field and also planted a vineyard with her profits), and assumedly did this without needing her husband's specific permission.  She is also smart.  She is planting a vineyard to sell the grapes and reap more profit.  She will probably then invest those earnings into some other worthwhile endeavor.  Her husband can trust her to spend her money wisely, and does not need to micromanage what she is doing with it.  He knows that she intends to bring him good (prosperity), and not harm (foolish squandering).

This does not mean that I am advocating wives to go out and get jobs and spend the money however they'd like, unless that works in your marriage.  I'm pointing out that a wife's role is NOT only to be inside of the home attending only to mundane tasks.  She is also to be a wise steward of what she has, and to invest wisely.  She should invest not only her money, but also her time and her talents as well.

*******

I've been getting up earlier in the morning, and it's been working out well.  I love having that quiet time to do my Bible study work and pray without little people interrupting.  When I stick to my general plan for the day, things go great.  When I veer from it quite a bit (and spend too much time on the computer, for example, or reading a book), things don't go as well.  I'm still working on this... thankfully we are not expected to change overnight! 

Happy Friday, and have a great weekend!

I'll do my Thursday Thirty One tomorrow.

I had my root canal today and feel SO MUCH better!  My root canal was great.  It helped that I liked and trusted the people who had their hands in my mouth.  I wasn't even nervous at all!  And I can honestly say that it didn't hurt!  I had one little twinge of pain that was remedied very quickly by a drop of novocaine dripped directly into my nerve.  Ahhhh. Two hours of laying down without the kids being watched by someone else.  Pure bliss.  If you need a root canal, I have an endodontist to recommend.  Really.

It's good to be able to chew on both sides of my mouth again.