Praise God for Power (electric, spiritual, and all other)

I'm going to try this by writing my post first and then copying and pasting it into this happy little box. The reason why? Because for the last two days, every time I was about to update my blog, we've had a power outage. As far as I can tell, I am not doing anything in particular to cause it--just coincidence.

Today, we returned home from our homeschooling co-op only to find that the lights were off. Because we have had complications with the wiring in our house and our fuse box before I went to the neighbors to make sure it was not just me. ;). She said that the power went out and a few minutes later, the fire trucks went by. Our power was out for several hours, and because it is so gray here today, we really couldn't do much of anything. It was quite dark in our house! I couldn't even warm up a cup of coffee in a microwave. I couldn't even get some water, as our water comes from a well (with an eletrical pump).

Thankfully, it is back on, and so we are busy trying to do some cleaning up and further work on some research reports everyone has been assigned. Each of our kids is doing a report on a different country, and we're going to be getting together with some other families to have a night of international food and presentations. The kids, largely working on the computer, have been quite distressed over the power going out while typing reports or doing research, though Edison assures me they think they fixed it this time.

Co-op went well, though I forgot my chess pages (d'oh!). I have written up some chess stuff for my students who are all quite new to chess. I was so excited about doing the chess class, but then after losing a few times to my son, I became concerned that maybe I wasn't qualified anymore. I think I lost brain cells when I had kids ;). I used to be able to beat my husband in chess but now I can't even beat my son.

I also have a cartooning class, for which I feel infinitely more qualified. I will be getting a cartoon strip together pretty soon to put up on my blog regularly (It is about a momma having kids, cats, and dogs and the funny things that occur in a normal day).

I really enjoy teaching kids how to draw. There are so few good books out there for that purpose (at least ones that go beyond the very basics). For example, I couldn't find too many cartooning books that had good information on shading, so I had to write my own. Good thing I'm an author LOL. Anyway, next semester, we are going to tackle how to write cartoons. Now THERE's a topic I have not seen AT ALL, and I am still trying to develop my own thoughts of how to explain to them what I know in a way that they can both do it and understand it. You really learn a subject better when you have to think about teaching it.

Speaking of my dead brain cells, I also remember being very good at math when I was younger. I nearly aced the SAT and I did ace the ACT, and I took (and passed) a placement test for Calculus. However, yesterday I found myself trying to help my 14 year old understand those idiotic algebra word problems about Suzy being in a car travelling so many miles per hour in one direction, and Mary being in a car driving the other way, and when will they meet...blah blah blah. My daughter put it well when she asked what the real world application is. I'm turning 38 on Monday, and I still don't know what the application is for those. Math is all around us, and we use so much of what we learned when we need to calculate yardages for fabric, or figure out how many ceramic tiles we need for the floor and things like that....but the ones about the two trains going in different directions... I still don't get it. I feel sorry for parents who didn't like or didn't do well in Algebra.

Frugal Fiesta Day!

We had spaghetti for dinner tonight....I had to get up to church early for handbell choir, and as such had to make something quickly and easily. However, yesterday we had a frugal fiesta here at the Eddy's....TACOS!

No, don't buy the kits...those are expensive. ;)

I don't make my own taco shells either---not quite so from scratch around here! (does anyone make their own? I'd be interested in hearing about it)

I have found that buying taco shells from my handy dandy bulk food place helps keep the price of tacos down (25 shells for just $1.89, or just $0.08 each.)Sometimes, when taco shells are on sale, they can be quite affordable too.

The other ingredients we need: 1 lb of ground beef or turkey (cost between $0.99-1.69, depending on sales), 1 can of tomato sauce ($0.43), 1 can of tomato paste ($0.20), oregano, thyme, onion soup mix (purchased in bulk--1 lb for $2.39--I only need 1 T of that), cilantro, coriander, cumin, paprika, ground red pepper.....You could also just use chili powder in lieu of all of those spices, but don't leave out the T of onion soup mix :-), 1 onion ($0.22), lettuce ($0.30), tomato (from garden), cheese (about $1.30 worth), Sour cream (about $.75 worth) and any other toppings. I also use 2 c. of refried beans (instructions follow), made from some of the 50 pound bag of refried beans I bought at the bulk food place for just $12.00.

Begin by making the filling: I use a cast iron skillet (you could use any other heavy bottomed skillet, and begin to saulte 1 diced onion, with all of the spices (except the onion soup mix), until the onion is lightly browned, and add the ground meat. Brown the meat. Drain off any grease. Pour in 1 can of tomato sauce and 1 can of tomato paste, plus 1T of onion soup mix. I also add 1 cilantro ice cube (fresh cilantro, minced and then frozen into ice cube trays to keep it fresh).



to make refried beans, purree 2 c. of cooked pinto or black beans, along with 1 onion, some minced garlic, chili powder, and a pinch of salt. heat a heavy skillet or cast iron skillet, add just enough oil to keep it from sticking, and begin to cook the bean puree over medium high heat, stirring constantly, until thickened. Season to taste.

If you plan to make tacos more than once in a blue moon, it may be a good idea to buy some of these cool little taco shell holders. They usually have them hanging up in the same aisle as the taco shells in the grocery store.



To put some sour cream into the taco shells, put it into a freezer bag, and cut off a corner of the bag, using it as a pastry bag, to squeeze the sour cream into your tacos. Plain yogurt may also be used.



The kids like to help decorate the tacos, so there is no shortage of helpers....I usually have them lined up, assembly line style---one doing the sour cream, one doing the meat sauce and refried beans, one doing the lettuce, one doing the other toppings.

On the Other Hand....Moms staying and eating at home

Another fascinating article that I found interesting:

For the first time since June Cleaver donned pearls and aprons in the 1950s, the percentage of women choosing to work outside the home has been flat to down for several years running. Not coincidentally, the number of meals purchased at restaurants per person has stopped growing too, for the longest sustained stretch in the 23 years NPD Group has tracked the number.

Women's participation rate in the paid U.S. labor force topped out at just above 60% in 1999 and again in 2001 but has fallen since then, according to the Labor Department.
.....For restaurants, it means an end to a demographic gold mine that fed decades of growth. ...."It's fascinating because it's counterintuitive," said John Glass, restaurant analyst for CIBC World Markets....
by Jack Neff. Read more Here

I found this one interesting because just as it is getting harder and harder to make ends meet, women in the workforce is going down? Why?

One statistic that I have always found thought-provoking (and found to be true in my own life) is that when a woman goes off to work, unless she is making a very good salary, most of the time it costs her more to work than to stay home. Think about it...gas prices (see the previous blog post for a quote about that), convenience foods and take out meals (as noted here), clothing fit to wear to work, possibly dry cleaning expenses to go with office clothes, and then there's daycare/babysitting expenses. Your taxes and tithes also go up when you work. All of those little things that an at home mom can take care of have to be dealt with by someone, and sometimes one needs to pay for those tasks to be completed (gardening/landscaping, laundry, cooking, etc.).

Perhaps with the cost of living, it has gotten to be too expensive to work?

A friend of mine and I were discussing though the fact that while restaurant meals are on the decline, take out at the grocery store (such as from the deli) is on the rise. We wonder...is it because few families really know how to cook? Or, should I say, cook well?

I wonder. Any thoughts?

Newsflash! Living Paycheck to Paycheck Gets Harder

"NEW YORK (AP) - The calculus of living paycheck to paycheck in America is getting harder.What used to last four days might last half that long now. Pay the gas bill, but skip breakfast. Eat less for lunch so the kids can have a healthy dinner. Across the nation, Americans are increasingly unable to stretch their dollars to the next payday as they juggle higher rent, food and energy bills. It's starting to affect middle-income working families as well as the poor, and has reached the point of affecting day-to-day calculations of merchants like Wal-Mart Stores Inc., 7-Eleven Inc. and Family Dollar Stores Inc.

Food pantries, which distribute foodstuffs to the needy, are reporting severe shortages and reduced government funding at the very time that they are seeing a surge of new people seeking their help. While economists debate whether the country is headed for a recession, some say the financial stress is already the worst since the last downturn at the start of this decade....In the meantime, rising costs show no signs of abating.

Gas prices hit a record nationwide average of $3.23 per gallon in late May before receding a little, though prices are expected to soar again later this year. Food costs have increased 4.5 percent over the past 12 months, partly because of higher fuel costs. Egg prices were 44 percent higher, while milk was up 21.3 percent over the past 12 months to nearly $4 a gallon, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average family of four is spending anywhere from $7 to $10 extra a week—$40 more a month—on groceries alone, compared to a year ago, according to retail consultant Burt Flickinger III." (by Anne D'Innocenzio for AP)

Here's an interesting article I read, that falls under the catagory of, "Well, duh" Then again, maybe it is just now that those who make more than the average family are noticing it more.

The pinch!! We've been in it now, as a family, since 2001. We bought our house in 1998, and we were so proud of ourselves, and our wisdom: we paid far less than what the bank told us we could "afford" (had we bought anything more than what we did, we'd be in a cardboard box right now). Financial advice point number one: never buy what they say you can afford--buy the best house that suits your needs at the most reasonable price you can find, even if that means moving a little further out of the suburbs--you don't know what the future holds, and all debt is a gamble on the future staying as it is right now or getting better. Now, if we were to run one of those analysis on our finances, I think the bankers would tell us we can't afford the house we have. LOL Thanks be to God for His grace in this area....He truely has shown Himself to me to be Jehovah Jireh, my provider.

I've actually gotten used to the fact that in 2001 my husband's income plummeted while our expenses began their ascent up the mountain (our annual income was cut down to about 1/3rd of what it was the previous year. yeah, ouch!). Several friends around the same time also went through a pinch too, and some even lost jobs altogether. Through the last 6 years of this experience, we have been taught of the Lord how to be content, and how to be better stewards, and again, I can only praise Him for that...because my flesh was saying other things...

The interesting thing is that those who were unaffected years ago by this are now starting to feel the pinch too. For a while I had friends who were thankfully unaffected by what was going on, and who couldn't understand how I couldn't afford $20 for piano lessons each week for the kids when that was such a good deal, or why I bought the cheap groceries though they were not necessarily the healthiest (because, the alternative was fasting--which I also did a few times during that time!). Now they are needing to learn how to tighten down more and more as their income goes down while prices go up. This is part of the reason why I am endeavoring to do the regular blog posts about what's for dinner at my house, and how much it cost, so as to spark some ideas in those of you who are struggling in this area.

Mock French Bread Pizza

On Friday of last week we had some French Bread pizza for dinner. This is another relatively easy thing to make for dinner, and it can be made even more inexpensively (albeit more time consuming) if you make your own bread. Mine is called Mock French Bread because I didn't do it exactly---I didn't let it sit in the fridge overnight to develop a more sourdough flavor, and I added some seasonings to the dough.

I especially like to make this when I see French Bread Baguettes on sale at the store for a small amount. This works fine with day old bread because you are baking it anyways, and with the sauce on it, a little bit of stale isn't as noticeable. You can use bread heels from homemade bread (or store bought), or bagels, or pretty much any other sort of bread too, for a fast, somewhat healthy, and affordable dinner. I don't make this kind of pizza often (usually I make the flat variety which is not as time consuming) but this was a special request by my darling, who loves fresh whole wheat french bread pizza--with bacon. LOL (so much for healthy).

The ingredients were as follows (with approx. prices):

Wheat Berries (about $0.60/2 lbs, purchased in a 50 lb. bag for $18.00)
Water
Yeast (about $.10, purchased in a 1 lb bag for $1.99)
Dried seasonings: dried minced onions, dried minced garlic, marjoram leaves, rosemary leaves (all purchased in bulk)
Tomato Sauce (1 can=$0.49)
Tomato Paste (1 can = $0.20--they were on sale 5 for a $1 so I stocked up)
A Basil Ice Cube (more on that later---grown in the garden)
1 onion
3 slices of bacon (about $0.40--it was 16 slices for $1.89 at a meat market)
Mozerella Cheese (1/2 lb = $1.50)

I started off making my bread:
I ground 8 cups of wheat berries in my Whispermill. That isn't totally necessary. I like fresh wheat bread, but I've also made it with white flour too.


Next, I mixed 4 c. of warm water, 3 c. of flour, and 2T of yeast together, and let them sponge for about 15 minutes. Afterward, I added some spices to the bread dough, such as minced onion, minced garlic, and rosemary, just to give it some added flavor, before adding the remainder of the flour one cup at a time.




I kneaded the dough on a lightly floured countertop until it was nice and elastic. Kneading is NOT just to "mix" the dough ingredients. The action of kneading dough helps gluten strands to form in the dough, giving it structure for when it rises. Gluten in the protein found in grains such as wheat, and that is why for yeast breads, one uses hard wheat, as it is higher in gluten.



Let the dough rise in a lightly oiled bowl in a warm spot, until doubled in size, and then punch the dough down. Shape the dough into baguettes, and slash the tops of them with a sharp knife. Let these also rise until doubled (about one hour).


To bake, first preheat the oven to 400F with a pan of water in the bottom of the oven (For steam). After the oven has preheated, bake like this for 15 minutes, then remove the pan of water and lower the heat to 350, and continue to bake for another 30 minutes (or until golden brown).

While the Bread is baking, prepare your sauce and toppings. My sauce contains onions, fresh basil (see note below), marjoram, garlic, a can of tomato sauce, and tomato paste. The toppings included some bacon (my dh's favorite), onions, cheese, and a few green peppers from the garden.

Basil cubes? ?Yep! That's how I store my basil. When it is time to harvest the basil (Which tastes WAY better fresh than dried), I process it in the food processor, and put it into ice cube trays to freeze. When frozen, I remove the cubes and store them in freezer baggies. The ice cubes are about 1T of fresh minced basil, and can be used in sauces, or anything else. This works well for most fresh herbs.





After the bread is done and has cooled slightly, I slice them open, and decorate the pizzas, first with sauce, then cheese, and other toppings. The pizzas then go back into the oven just long enough to melt the cheese.

Strawberry Questions--Answered!

Mrs. H recently wrote:

I was wondering about your strawberry bed. It seems that you are growing these as a perennial, which is something I am interested in. All the books say to plant strawberry crowns, but I can only find strawberry plants in my area. Also, October is when you plant strawberries in Louisiana, so I was wondering if I buy one of those leggy-looking plants, do I just snip off the offshoots and plant them separately into some sort of bed form, or do I plant the whole plant, legs and all?

I can't speak to Lousiana, but up here in Michigan, early in the spring (like, March--when there is often still snow) many nurseries have the crowns (which are also called sets or baby plants or a few other words I can't think of right now).They usually have them bundled like a dead little mass of blackish looking roots, with a rubberband around them. The first time I bought them I doubted that they would grow...but those first ten plants are the ONLY ones I've ever bought since...and I now have around 150 plants. There's some exponential growth for you!

The thing about the strawberry sets is that they are rarely out on the shelves (I assume it is because they look half dead). You may try asking.

If you can't find them, not to worry. Strawberries are easy to transplant, probably because they are planted so shallow. I usually clip off the runners and plant them separately. Amazingly, those shoots will form roots rather quickly when placed on top of some fertile, loose soil, and watered. This is how I've gotten so many strawberry plants. Usually, the first year your strawberry crop will be disappointing--very tiny strawberries. Most books say to pinch them off to let the plant grow stronger (so that the plant doesn't waste energy on making small fruits), but we let them grow anyway. We were impatient ;).The first year, you should also pinch off runners so that they don't grow, while the plant is maturing.

When planting strawberries, it would be helpful to look online or in a good gardening book to see exactly how deep to plant the strawberry plant. That is the one are where strawberries are fussy.

As your plants grow and start to send off runners, I have found it useful to use peat pots or some extra little containers to catch the runners in. I fill them up with moist soil, and place them under the runners so that they will root in the cup. When they have developed some roots, I snip them, and plant them where I want them to go. Doing this, I have continuously developed a long bed of strawberries. I have also replaced any berry plants that died in this way, and shared strawberry plants with others.

One more thing: everbearing strawberries create fruit throughout the growing season, but Junebearing only produce fruit in June. I am not sure if it is like that everywhere (I assume so as most gardening books refer to these two main classifications), but that is good to know when deciding what kind to get. :-)

Thank You!

The firesale is over, and I wanted to express my thanks.

I didn't make enough to fix the transmission, but thankfully someone from church did something to it to make it run for a little while longer. His comment was "Don't drive unless necessary in this, but for the time being, it will at least get you to the necessary places. BUT...don't wait too long to get it fixed"...okay, so that is the game plan! We're going to save up for the transmission (all I want for Christmas is a new transmission, honey!). For my birthday, my mom's husband is going to install my shock absorbers which I was able to buy with the fire sale money so I don't bounce and shake as I drive anymore. Those have been broken for a year now...but at the urging of some friends who don't like the noises my van makes...I'm fixing those now.

I am so thankful to the Lord for providing me with a van in the first place...I know a lot of families don't have two vehicles--maybe some of you! I think it would be more expensive for us to have one vehicle, as a vehicle that fits our whole family would be pricey for my husband to drive to work each day. Vans don't get as good of gas milage as little Saturns do. We were without a vehicle for a while in our family, and only my dh had a car to go to work in. We missed going to church as a family, and were so thankful when God provided this van, even with it's many miles and funny noises ;)

We had a storm at our house the other day...well not at our house but near us. There were tornadoes near us--scary! You probably heard about it on the news. The baby that was found in his crib under the rubble when the house was blown apart by the twister is not very far from us...so we have spent most of the weekend cleaning up the yard. While out there, I finally decided to plant some bulbs that were on sale (love them sales!)...I have tulips, daffodils, and crocuses. I already have quite a few planted, but there were some spots where I felt like I could use some more color in the spring. I also dug up some irises, separating them, and replanting them in other places. Somehow a large patch of irises and lamb's ear has encroached on my strawberry bed, so I am digging that up and putting it elsewhere.

Coming soon...more dinner time photos, including Tacos and French Bread Pizza. Stay tuned.

Just 9 Hours Left!

Just 9 more hours left on my fire sale!!! Did you get your special package ordered yet? $120 worth of downloadable products for just $24.95!

http://www.joyfulmomma.org/bookstore2/zc/

Family Fitness Thursday! 10/18

The teens are taking a digital photography class in the area with a homeschool mom, which has afforded them much exercise--walking around with a camera is still walking, and it is exercise without realizing it. Anything that gets you outside and moving! Maybe I'll post some of their photos soon.

As for the rest of us, we are continuing with our program of walking, light weight training and stretching. We were able to add some reps and sets to the weight training and stretching because it was getting "too easy". Everything I've read about exercise indicates that doing reps and sets while exercising, instead of just doing some round number like "20" is better for you. For example, when we do arm curls with the 3lb weights (the little one uses a 1lb weight), I do five with one arm, then five with the other arm, and I do that 4 times. So...4 sets of 5 reps. It gives you some rest between. Check it out online for more information.

As for progress...I'm a total boot freak...I love wearing boots! However, when you are a "Certain weight" it is not possible to wear (and zip up) tall boots (which I love to wear with skirts/dresses in the winter). Well, progress: I can wear boots that go to my knees--and zip them up all the way. to be fair, my calves weren't huge as I've seen others--most of my weight is in the middle and my legs looked actually skinny compared to the rest of me...but now they have apparently gotten much toner. Yippie.

I'd love to say it's the potato soup, but I think it would be more accurate to say it is IN SPITE OF the potato soup. LOL

Pototo Soup (again)

We made potato soup again for dinner, and since everyone who reads this seemed interested in learning more, my dd decided to photograph the cooking process. Please excuse the messy stovetop ;) You don't realize just how messy your stove is until you take pictures of it. LOL

Why potato soup AGAIN? Because it is too YUMMY!!! Besides that, I purchased a 50 pound back of potatoes at Country View last week, for just $2.49...and this is one easy, delicious, and family favorite fall soup that we make....and I could easily eat it every day of the week, as could my husband and kids. I calculated the approximate cost of making it, and came to the conclusion that this is an under $1 dinner:

about 5 lbs of potatoes (0.24, when purchased in the 50 lb bag)
a handful of flour (about .10)
1 c. of milk (about 0.30)
1 carrot (from the garden--maybe a few cents?)
1 onion (also from the garden--about 2 cents)
rosemary and parsley from the garden (they grow without assistance now--so free)
1 slice of turkey bacon (16 slices in a 1 lb package for $1.89---.12)
water--free
pinch of salt--less than a penny.
1T of oil or butter (depends on what oil you use--I used butter, so about $.20)

Day old bread (store bought of homemade) can be added as croutons, and a half a handful of cheese on each bowl (also optional) may raise the price up to $1.50-2.00 (depending on the cheese). Someone gave us the brick of cheese, so for us it was free.

Less than the price of a large order of fries at McDonalds and much better for you too!

I start out by peeling, cubing and cooking the potatoes. DON'T pour off the water as the starch helps it to thicken later on.

In your soup pot, cook your slice of bacon. Remove and finely mince, and set aside. Add some additional oil/butter if needed. Saulte 1 onion and 1 carrot (finely minced). You can add celery too.

Next, add 1 handful of flour. Stir until a paste forms, then add about 2 c. of milk. Obviously I'm not measuring here.



Simmer that, stirring frequently, until it becomes quite thick. Next, pour in your potatoes in their cooking liquid. If it appears you need more liquid, add hot water! At this point you can add some other seasonings too, such as chicken boullion.



I like fresh herbs in mine, so I trotted off to my (needs-badly-to-be-weeded) herb garden for some fresh parsley and rosemary for the soup. Dried is fine but fresh...it really is awesome. Might as well enjoy it while the plants are still thriving at the end of the growing season!



Back indoors, I took the sprig of rosemary, and running my fingers along it, I stripped off the leaves. I picked out any big stems out of the parsley too. I took a large chefs knife, and minced them on a cutting board.

I add the rosemary to the pot, and some of the parsley, but reserve some parsley for garnish. I also, at this point, add the bacon, finely minced. You can also leave some of that out for a garnish.




I don't known about you, but I like bread with my soup. We had some sandwich bread from the store (we all agree mine is best--but it had been too hot to bake until this week...), cut into quarters. I heated my tortilla skilled (cast iron) which is well seasoned, and I toasted the pieces on the skilled so that they were like croutons. If you don't have a well seasoned cast iron skillet you may need to either use nonstick or lightly oil either the bread or the skillet. Using a brush and olive oil works good.




As you can see from the very top photo, this is best served in a mug, with one of the "croutons" placed on top, some cheese, and some of the fresh parsley.

Bon Appetit!

Fire Sale update 10/16

The fire sale will be ending in just a few days. You only have until Thursday, October 18th to take advantage of the 25% off, and of the $120 worth of products we have available for just $24.95 as I raise money to fix my van. (I really wish transmissions wouldn't go in both cars at once! ack!)

There was some problems with the links originally, and those have been fixed. Everything should be working well now, but if you are unable to download something, please let me know right away so I can fix that. kimberly at joyfulmomma dot org

Are Right Wingers Hard Hearted?

I was just reading an article that someone sent me the link to. It actually made me both sad and mad at the same time. Mad, because of the broad-brush characterizations (especially in the comments!) and sad because I know it to be true of some conservatives, and especially of conservative politicians. It's an interesting read.

The article was basically an interview with Paul Krugman (author of "The Conscience of a Liberal") by Mark Karlin, and the title of the interview was (cringe) "Why do Right-wingers Mock Attempts to Care for Other People?"

He makes some valid points in some areas, as do some of the commenters. They are right in that most conservatives (especially conservative Christians) come across as unloving, uncaring, and unconcerned about the hardships of others (usually unintentionally or because they have been blessed to the point of not knowing hardship the way someone in poverty does). The point was made that no one cares about how bad a politician is for the middle class as long as he parrots the words that he is pro life. I've been saying as much for years. Some politicians seem to use that to get votes, knowing that morally we'd never vote against someone who is against abortion. We need to look at their whole record!

The thing that gets me though is the idea that being against social programs is a lack of generosity. Social welfare is generosity with other people's money. It's easy to be helpful and even extravagant in your aid if you are not the one paying the bill. Don't you think those who pay the bill would want some say in how it's spent? How many one income families are thrilled to pay taxes to pay for the daycare of working mothers? How many of us like tightening our budgets, to the point of doing without air conditioning, only to hear that our tax dollars are buying those who are choosing not to work air conditioning?

I was totally offended by the implication of racism. Couldn't be less true (at least up here in the North)

But, getting back to the point....

Call me a cynic but I have noticed that the only thing liberal and conservative politicians can agree on is raising taxes and voting themselves pay raises. They just raised our taxes here in Michigan after Gov. Granholm shut down the government when they couldn't' balance the budget. If I balanced my books the way they balance theirs, I'd be in trouble!!! Maybe they should all take Accounting 101 again. Or read "Budgeting for Dummies".

The way I see it, Liberals tax us to death to give handouts to those they think deserve more. The conservatives give tax breaks to the rich and cancel social programs. Both groups are bone heads. LOL

I'm not too crazy about social programs because I don't think it is a good thing to always have your hand out, and the whole Robin Hood thing is still stealing even if the money goes to "a good cause". There's also a lot of restrictions that make it difficult if not impossible to get out of the poverty cycle once you are in there. I've watched this with my neighbor who lost benefits for being a good steward and putting a little bit into savings. Besides that, no one asked me if I wanted to support crack moms who can't keep their legs together, pay for daycare for working moms, and in some cases, pay for abortions or abortifacent drugs through medicare. Mr. Krugman acknowledges that conservatives only want to help the moral. Well, sort of. I don't like my money going to someone who is going to smoke it, snort it or waste it any more than I like it going to some politician's fancy new house on Martha's Vineyard. When I help people (and I've done it QUITE A FEW TIMES), I try to do more than give them a band aid. I try to really HELP. I give money, food, and so forth, but I also give guidance in budgeting, guidance in starting a business, guidance in having a garden (I've even given garden space!), and tried to help the one who needs help not to get back in a bad spot again. It's that whole "teach a man to fish" thing. Giving the fish is easier, cheaper, less time consuming in the short term...but teaching them is much more beneficial to them and society in the long term.

However, the way things were, as Mr. Krugman points out, before the New Deal were not rosy either. There are plenty of people who have no friends, family, or support system willing or able to help them during hard times. Life happens, and sometimes there are those who lose jobs, or fall on hard times for other reasons need a little help. Just removing the safety net all at once while not making other changes is not exactly helpful to hardworking families.

Universal health care is another one that I wrestle with. I've been without health care and that isn't fun. On the other hand, I used to live in Austria, where I got to experience the wonders of socialized medicine. And you thought HMO's were bad!?!? Instead of getting care with a big fat bill attached (As is the American model), everyone gets the same poor-to-mediocre care, unless you are rich enough to buy yourself the care you want. Taxes are so high it is hard to get ahead. Up until 3 months ago, I had no insurance either. It's no picnic, but at least we still have the freedom to choose what to do about it. The time is coming where we will be fined, as they are in Massachusetts, for not having health insurance, or when we will be taxed into poverty to pay for health care whether we want it or not. But hey, health care would be free, right?

I think the bottom line of my weird little ramble here is summed up in a few points:
1. Liberals and conservative people both want to help others but differ on the best way to do it.
2. Politicians are totally out of touch with the working class and thus have no clue how to help real live families. When family values becomes about things like gay marriage, instead of about helping in a practical way the majority of working class households (and not discriminating against those households where someone stays home and raised the children)...it becomes a campaign slogan not a conviction. Personally I long for the day when politicians are not allowed to earn over the poverty level, so as to help them think through better solutions to our nation's problems.
3. Generosity is important--but be sure to only be generous with your own resources, and not everyone else's.

It's so cold in Michigan today that....

....my kids have a CD in the stereo belting out "It's the most wonderful time of the year....." and "The Carol of the Bells"....

Maybe we need some creamy potato soup for dinner tonight??

My new favorite recipe for pototo soup (based on how my friend makes hers which is better than how I used to make it!) makes the soup extra creamy.

Start by peeling and cubing about 10 potatoes, covering them in water, and cooking them until fork-tender (do NOT spill out the liquid!).

In a stock pot, cook up 2 strips of bacon (if you are being healthy, turkey bacon works well--I actually think it has a better texture for soup!). Remove the bacon onto paper towels. If you used regular bacon, drain off excess grease, leaving only enough to saulte 1 onion. If you used turkey bacon, add a touch of olive oil. chop up 1-2 onions, and saulte until slightly browned. Add 1 finely chopped carrot, and 1 finely chopped stalk of celery, and cook until tender. Stir in 1T of flour, then stir in 1c. of milk. Keep stirring until it starts to thicken, then pour in the potatoes and their cooking liquid (Which is rich in starch!). Add some chicken, vegetable, or beef boullion (optional). Season with parsley, salt and pepper to taste.

We love to serve this in mugs, topped with croutons or bread cubes (great for day old bread), crumpled bacon from earlier, chives, scallions, and cheese. Yummy!!!

Chosen and Accepted----by GOD!

We had a great day at church yesterday. Most of the time, I always Intend to blog about what God was showing me in church, but so often that does not happen! I get so busy with *LIFE* that I forget to share ;). In Sunday School, we are going through the book of Ephesians. We were in Ephesians 1:3-6 yesterday. There was a lot of meat there!!

When you really stop and think about it, what an amazing thought that God has chosen and accepted us into His family--and that His acceptance of us is not based on our performance but on what Christ has done! I think that latter part many of us struggle with the most.We will say we were saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-9) but we live as though our works will be what keeps us saved. However, if we weren't good enough to earn salvation, how on earth can we possibly be good enough to keep it on our own? Such a thing just isn't possible!

My husband and I were involved in lots of different churches over the years...we were just talking about it, but we have been at our current church the longest! That's a scary thought, as I still feel so new; however, we've been here for almost 7 years. There are a lot of variations on this teaching. I've been in churches where you could feel both saved and lost dozens of times each day--every errant thought sent you back to damnation. I've been in churches where only the "really big sins" made your salvation unsteady. I've been in churches on the other end where, because of God's grace, we were told we weren't supposed to change anything of our lifestyle or do anything the Bible teaches because we're saved already. So many teachings...and yet they didn't sit right with me as neither seems to me to be teaching the character and heart of our Lord. Is He a mean, abusive Father who stands over us with a big stick, waiting to beat on us for messing up and rejecting us the second we don't keep a standard only His Son has been able to keep? Is He a jolly Santa figure, who plays the permissive parent, and delights to let us run wild because "it's all grace, anyways"? Or is He a firm yet loving parent, guiding us step by step, loving us even when we fail, but loving us enough to gently chastise us when we go astray, and lead us in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake?

Maybe it has something to do with upbringing too--that is how we were raised affects how we view God. Growing up I heard "I love you" a lot, but I didn't feel loved or accepted.There was verbal abuse that undermined any affect those three empty words ever did in my heart. For a long time, it was hard to accept that God did in fact love me unconditionally, that he didn't dismiss my hearts desires with a cruel "Don't be so foolish!" and realizing that He didn't look down on me with a look of rejection whenever I screwed up. I think everyone's upbringing, to one way or another, colors how they view God until they mature in the faith to the point where they know God well enough to know His character is contrary to the flawed ways earthly parents raise their children.

In churches where eternal insecurity (the doctrine that you can lose your salvation) is taught, usually the argument is made that if we are saved by grace, what reason would we have to obey God? How about love of a father? Imagine this: if you were a teenager, and your daddy indicated to you that every time you messed up he was turning his back on you, and no longer your father, what sort of feelings would you have for that guy? If you are like me, you'd say, FINE! I'll take my chances down at the soup kitchen and homeless shelter, and you'd move out. If you aren't so outspoken, you'd maybe silently resent that, and leave as soon as you were old enough or maybe harbor some bitterness. You'd NOT be motivated by love to please your daddy. If you obeyed at all, it would be just to keep a roof over your head. However, if you know that you are loved even if you were a teenager, and you came home to tell your parents you were pregnant or if you called them from the county jail for stealing cars, you'd probably be more motivated NOT to screw up and disappoint them. For a while, believing that God would cast me out if I were to mess up "too badly", I lived paralyzed in that fear of rejection. When I did mess up, I usually didn't quickly grovel back to Him...I ran from Him. I messed up and have lost my salvation, so time to live like an unsaved person for a few days (or months)! However, when I know that God, in His mercies, loves and accepts me, and sent His son Jesus to die on the cross for my sins (that is, every sin I ever committed and will commit!), then of course I am going to not want to disappoint my heavenly father.

My heart's desire is to please Him, and to bring Glory to His name. I so often fail...but He still loves me. Father God looks at me and sees Christ's blood instead of my failures. We thrive in the security we have as believers. We are not worried about earning God's love, or performing. Practical truth in light of positional truth, we were taught yesterday, means that I have freedom to live securely in Christ. Amen and amen!

the Joyful Momma fire sale...6 days left!

Well, day one is nearly a close of my fabulous fire sale!

To see if I can raise some extra cash to repair the van (after hubby just had to have his transmission in his car replaced recently too), I am marking everything dramatically down(everything is 25% off!)...and not only that, I am offering two special packages for a very low price. Package One has the donated downloadable products of several publishing friends of mine, a well as my own self-published ebooks. It is over $120 in products for just $24.95. The other packaged set contains all of my ebooks on CD-Rom for just $19.95, including shipping. Check it out and tell all of your friends.

Check out the firesale now!

Get a great deal at the Firesale!

I just wanted to let you know, starting today, and until Thursdays, October 18th, 2007, I'm having a fire sale at my bookstore to try to raise some quick cash towards some emergency vehicle expenses we are experiencing. It gets a little expensive when two cars need transmissions and extensive engine work within two months of each other! :-)

What's available in the fire sale?

Well, for starters, everything in my bookstore is 25% off!

Next up, i have two very special packages that will only be available for the next week:

Package One includes over $120 worth of downloadable products (ebooks and an audio), all for just $24.95. These are products that other publishers have generously donated to this firesale to help me out, as well as my own products.

Package Two is a complete collection of all of my ebooks on CD Rom (a value of $52.80) for just $19.95, with free shipping. It's a great deal for those of you with dialup--no downloading!

Be sure to let your friends know about it, too! Thanks!

Exercise doesn't have to be perfect!

Continuing on with Family Fitness Thursdays! Woo hoo. My waistband is getting to be almost TOO loose for a belt, how 'bout you?

I'm glad I am still losing. I was worried for a little while there. This month we tried Angel Food Ministries, and I have decided that while the $25 box of food was nice, it had too many of my culinary temptations in it for me to justify buying it again. I am not in the least someone who will go ga-ga for a candy bar (yuck) but I have very little self control when I have a 10 pound box of frozen popcorn chicken in my freezer. Good thing I'm working out LOL.

Another Email!

I got this email from a reader:

I only get through the warmup part of a workout video before I am too tired to do any more. I'm very out of shape. It doesn't seem like enough exercise though. I read you have to do exercise for at least 20 minutes before you read the spot when you are burning calories. How can I burn enough to make a difference?

Any exercise is better than no exercise at all. (and by any exercise, I mean quantity--make sure you are doing the moves correctly, however slowly you are doing them---moving properly is more important than moving for an hour!

Personally, and keep in mind I am not a doctor, exercise guru (LOL), or fitness expert--just a mom who is taking on the challenge of getting the family moving more----personally I think if all you are doing now is sitting on your behind, then doing just the warmup (and cooldown) parts of an exercise DVD is probably a great place to start...you have to build up to it.

I read a little while ago some article where they decided (after some study) that exercise doesn't burn enough calories to lose weight. I think that is ridiculous, and obviously they never interviewed me LOL.

My own experience (and that of several severely overweight friends who have taken off at least 50 or more pounds) is that you need to both eat well and move your body daily.

Again, I don't have a permanent head damage degree (PhD) in exercise or anything like that, but I have found that it doesn't seem to matter about focusing on how many calories you are burning when you do such and such an exercise. I think it is all pretty relative. The act of being "in oxygen" (aerobically working out--not to be confused with complicated choreography and scantilly clad workout instructors with impossible moves) and of working your muscles (light weight training) seems to do your body good, even if "the charts" (which are not infallible) say I only burned enough to cancel out my fat free salad dressing.

I'm sure you can look this up more on the internet somewhere to have all of the scientific details, but working out (especially weight training) benefits you more when you are resting afterwards than when you are doing it...the results don't just end when your workout does. And, if you are building muscle, it affects how you burn calories. If you are exercising, the hormonal changes that go on as a result of what happens on a biochemical level also contribute to a more efficient (or maybe even a properly functioning) metabolism.

On the other hand...if you are only able to make it through the warm up before you are seriously sucking wind, you are better off stopping there (maybe doing the cool down portion of the workout though!), than forcing yourself to do what some 20 year old fitness guru can do, if you are an out of shape, overweight, 30-something mom of 9. All that I have read on the science of exercise seems to indicate that over exertion can do lots of damage, and undermine your efforts. Again, I'm not someone who has a degree in all of this stuff--I just read a lot. :-)

Bottom line--if you are waiting until you can do the entire 60 minute Tae-bo tape you bought on a daily basis, you should know that the longer you wait the less likely it is that you will even be able to do the warmup itself ,girl!

Van Issues and Great Deals

With living rurally, we use our van quite a bit. It gets us shopping, to homeschool co-op, and to church. Our van was such a blessing when we got it--after years of using a station wagon that we all barely fit in, friends of ours sold us their old van for about the same amount we'd pay for a set of tires--it was amazing. The van had about 300,000 miles on it, but we were grateful just for a van. Well it seems those miles have caught up on the van now....the transmission is going. When I tried to leave this morning for an appointment, the van started but it didn't move anywhere, even after I let it warm up for a while. Tonight, it carried us to church, albeit slowly, and only after warming up for a half an hour. Unfortunately, we just got done sinking money into my husband's work car, and so we quite short on getting the van fixed.

I was praying about this today when the Lord gave me an idea...Starting Friday, there is going to be QUITE an amazing sale at my website. I am not only going to make everything in my store 25% off, I am also going to be selling special bundles of my products and the products of many others who are donating them just for this special sale, to see if I can make enough to take Ol' Bessie into the shop, or maybe even look for a van with less miles on it.

Stay tuned for more details!

email troubles

I wanted to make note that if anyone has emailed me recently (in the last 2 months), and didn't get a response, I just found out that there were some issues with my email. I had to crank up my spam filter because of some VERY nasty stuff in it, and it turns out that some other emails found their way to the spam filter. Some of them I was unable to open. Try emailing me again if you need to. I AM SOOOOOO SORRY.

Frugal Health Food

My family's fitness adventures continue....

Walking and stretching and walking and stretching....we are able to do a mile (a brisk walk around town) in about 10-15 minutes consistently, which is awesome.

I was recently emailed this question:

It seems like healthy food costs more. We are on a very tight budget right now and can't afford to spend more at the grocers. Others have written that it will save money at the doctors, but truth be told we haven't been to the doctors in 5 years either. Do you have any frugal healthy eating tips?

I relate because I've been there and done that. Saving money at the doctors is a mute point when you can't afford the co-pay at the doctors, and therefore don't go unless you are dying. It's been a long time since I've seen a doctor.My kids, praise God, are also very healthy and so we haven't had the need to see the doctor at all in a few years, though we go to the chiropractor occasionally, and we see the dentist.

Healthy food is more expensive if you are already forgoing the pre-packaged junk food aisles and are cooking and eating from scratch to save money. Let's face it--carbs are cheap eats. It's cheaper to buy a bag of potatoes and some boxes of pasta because they can be stretched further, especially if you have a big family. A bag of apples may stretch a whole week for a married couple, but if you have five kids, that is an afternoon's worth of snacks. To buy bananas for the week, we need about 10 lbs of them, and pray that they last that long. I actually buy 7 bags containing 3 heads of romaine each (When there is none left in the garden), and sometimes they last until the next shopping day. Today I was going to have salad, only to find that there was enough lettuce for two bites left. I guess I can rest in the knowledge that my kids prefer salad and fruit to candybars. :-)

However, there are some healthy things that you can buy that are not so expensive.

One of the staples in our diet has always been the cheapest cut of ground beef--it stretches far and is versatile. Well, it is also high in fat and cholesterol too! I was reading online that ground turkey is better for you all around, so I decided to price some out. To my delighted surprise, ground turkey is about 20 cents cheaper than the ground beef (or the same price), and it has a nice taste too.

Real butter, while costing more than margarine, is better for you as it is more natural, though you shouldn't eat too much. Buying that keeps us from using too much of it. If you are buying "generic veggie spread" at 50 cents a pound, you will likely buy more, and use more than buying butter at 1.66 a pound, right?

Buying bags of romaine hearts is also a pretty good value on a healthy salad. Iceberg lettuce, while very low in calories, is also very low in nutrients. Romain has a lot of good things in it as a dark leafy green, and the hearts have a mild flavor. This week, three of those were just $2.38 (regular price), and sometimes they drop down to $1.99 or lower. I find they also keep well.

With other vegetables, I try to see what is on sale or seasonal, as those are usually the best prices. Some weeks we buy a few bags of apples. This may sound silly but we use removable labels, put the kids' names on them, and divide them up evenly so that one child is not eating all of the apples (or other produce). Whatever is on sale--bags of apples, boxes of clementine tangerines, bags of oranges and grapefruit, bananas, pears, plums, and so forth--we buy 2 different sorts of fruit each week for snacks and breakfast.

Cold cereal is very expensive, but some sorts of cereal (Such as no-brand bran flakes) can be relatively inexpensive--$1.50 a box where I shop. I mostly make my own granola, and we often enjoy hot oatmeal in the mornings. Oatmeal fills you up and is good for you. I make it plain and add a slight sprinkling of either cinnamon sugar (emphasis on slight!!!), or maple syrup at the table. Adding sweetner at the table means using less, as the flavor is stronger when it is on the surface.

the other big thing I've found is portion control. When you buy a box of granola bars, sometimes 1 granola bar is the whole portion, not the two or three that are in the individual package (though this varies by package!). When you dish out spaghetti sauce, usually a scant ladle full is a whole portion--not 2 or 3. I find portion control harder when you are cooking for what feels like an army--it's hard to guage when you make a huge amount of food at once. However, if you start measuring at the table you will soon be able to eyeball it better. It really is eye opening.

Family Fitness Thursdays 9/27/2007

So, how we doing on the fitness thing?

We've been up early most days doing some moving and then walking. It's been harder this week as we all have sinus problems with the changing weather--seems to happen each season change!

It's funny how when you're getting up earlier and earlier suddenly 9 am seems like the middle of the day instead of "First thing in the morning" LOL. This is especially helpful to us since we have co-op every other week bright and early at 9 am, and I no longer fear sleeping in on that day and missing the first session.

I found that moving in the morning, before doing anything else, wakes me up out of that fog.

Exercise is one of those things that the majority of us really don't wake up wanting to do (I think anyway) but it is something that most of us get into once we start moving. I never wake up saying...."I want to stretch and lift weights!" but by the time I am midway through my workout I feel better and enjoy it.

By the way, to join Family Fitness Thursdays on your blog, just click on the link below, and fill in the information on the next page.

Strength for the Day

I think it is safe to say that most of us moms are tired much of the time...especially when we have really young children. For me that season is fading fast (the youngest human here is 8 and so only kittens keep me up if anything does), but yet I receive some emails often from moms who have younger children who want to know how I do it all. Here's a few thoughts, including some insights from yesterday's Sunday school class.

Firstly, if you have five children under 6, you need to know that when I also had five children under six I basically was lucky to have dinner on the table sometime before bedtime. There are times and seasons to life, and while all of your young ones are still just old enough to make messes but not quite old enough to be effective helpers on a consistent basis, other things have to be put on hold that are not quite as important (hobbies, projects, group involvements, outside commitments, egroups, etc.). I think it is useful to have something that you do that helps you to be refreshed and come back to your primary job as mommy with your batteries recharged, but it is a balance you have to acheive between your hobby refreshing you, to your hobby stretching you thin or becoming an escape from real life responsibilities.

Secondly, eating better...I'm not talking a perfect diet either. If you tend to be a perfectionist about eating and when you fail to stick to your raw foodism or your low carb or whatever strict diet, you go off on a junk food binge because you feel like you "failed", then you are causing more harm than good. From talking with other moms, I've noticed this is common to one degree or another. Eat good food, but allow yourself grace. Take baby steps to healthier eating so that the changes last longer. Drink lots of water, and get your body moving a little bit every day, and you will find you feel better. And...by moving a little bit every day, that means what it says...if you don't exercise now, do maybe five minutes of simple stretching. You can find some info in a pdf file on this site: www.presidentschallenge.com in their downloads section...don't just go from couch potato to trying to run 5 miles or working out for an hour in the gym. You WILL be tired!

Thirdly, but perhaps most importantly for a Christian, spend time being refreshed in the Lord. This includes gathering with other believers in your local church, and also private devotional time. I think the tendency I used to have was to look at my devotional times as something else to check off of my list of things to do. But, instead of being a duty, we should view our times with the Lord as a time when God encourages us and reassures us of His love. That was something we learned in Sunday School yesterday. Our teacher is going through the Psalms and was teaching out of Psalm 27. In this psalm, David is warring against his enemies, and reaffirming his trust and hope in the Lord to deliver him. The observation was also made in class that we don't go to the "fortress" to hie but to gain strength to face our enemies (and the Christian's enemies are the devil, the world, and our own flesh). That fortress is our Lord.

The Proverbs 31 woman is pretty amazing and a challenge to all of us ladies, I think, but years ago as I was doing a study (and making a list of everything I thought this passage was telling me I had to do!), i realized that it doesn't say "this is what her DAY looks like.." it was speaking of her whole life...she wasn't just home from the hospital with a new baby, several toddlers, and no help. She managed a household full of servants, ran a cottage industry, wisely managed the household resources, and so forth. If anything, her children come across, in the end of the passage, as being older and looking back at their mother's life, and calling her blessed...the whole point of the passage was that a virtuous wife was indeed RARE...but this is what the pattern of her life looks like, something for us to shoot for as we go through life. It was not to discourage as about not being able to find the time today to plant vineyards, sew sashes and manage our households, or hear our 2 year olds rise up and call us blessed.

Piano Lessons

I wish I had piano lessons when I was a kid.

I've always been passionate about music, and have always longed to be able to play. I started piano lessons a few weeks ago...and making progress. This has been an interesting year for me as I have been not only doing piano, but also gotten involved with the Handbell Choir at church...woo hoo.

This morning, we again awoke early, did about 25 minutes of Pilates and then walked a mile with the kids around our neighborhood in the early dawn. I got some more good news too...I went to the chiropractor for the first time in many months, and I weighed in on their scale. Last time I was their (in May), I weighed in about 40 lbs more than I do right now!!! I was so discouraged by the weight gain that I really haven't stepped on a scale in a while. I guess maybe all of that salad, fruit, and walking has paid off. We have eaten salad 4 out of 7 nights this summer, and I have taken a walk most days, too. Woo Hoo.

The President's Active Lifestyle Award

I'm making progress losing weight. I'm down 23 lbs, just from working out more. Recently, I found a great resource I wanted to share with all of you mommas, because it can not only help YOU and give YOU a goal to work towards, but also give your children a goal to work towards as well. It's called the The President's Active Lifestyle Award. Anyone remember doing the President's physical fitness award in elementary school gym class? Or, in my case, getting laughed at while failing miserably at getting the PPFA? Well, that is still around too (and open to homeschoolers!!!) but this one is much more practical as it helps to build the habit of an active lifestyle into our young ones.Our homeschooling co-op is working towards the PPFA and the PALA for our gym class.

After reading about it, I went to the website to find out if moms could also try for the active lifestyle award, since I am helping my kids get in the activity for their logs. I found out that we can register online (as can families!) and keep track of our activity from their website.

Today is day one for me registering, and my 30 minutes of activity (kids have to do 60 minutes) was going through a light callisthetic, stretching, and weight training routine with my kids using 1.5 lb hand weights. It's based on my weight loss pilates DVD that I bought at Walmart, but the DVD has proven difficult for a few reasons, not the least of which is the immodest clothing and cleavage which my son doesn't need to ponder. We also found the choreography harder for the kids, so I am doing the same exercises, plus some work with free weights, and of course situps and push ups to practice for the PPFA.

On another topic that is somewhat related, my husband and my kids were talking about how he is always tired, and he said to them that they should try to get up at 4:30 am every day...they'd be tired too. Well they said, "Sure, wake us up" (Thanks, honey and kids, I really didn't want to get up at 4:30...).Anyway, for the last few days we've been up at that dreadful hour, which has given the added blessing of giving us time to work out. Starting tomorrow, we're going to go marching around town at 6:00am for a walk. The PALA requires kids do either 60 minutes of working out or 11,000 steps for girls and 13,000 steps for boys (that's roughly 3-4 miles) 5 days out of 7 for 13 continuous weeks. Once around our neighborhood is exactly 1 mile, so if we go two times, plus do our callesthetics, we should be good....and I'll go beyond what is required of me as I only have to do 30 minutes of working out...but with my, um, large size, it won't kill me to do a hour with the kids.

So, who else is in? What other families are going to go for the PALA? Who's done it already?

Basil

Kay Wrote,

I am so glad I didnt plant Oregano now. I planted basil which has done
great, but now after reading Penny's comment, I am wondering about next
year because it did go to seed. My dill has done great this year also!

Kay,

I think it depends on where you live, about the basil. My basil grows well, but here in Michigan it is an annual, and I have to replant it every year. Thankfully it hasn't taken over. :-) Although I don't think I would mind if it did! I have more use for basil than I do for oregano!

By the way, congratulations on the baby! Woo hoo.

Oregano is a pest...after all of that oregano we dug up, and even after turning the ground under, guess what is poking up through the ground?? I think I would try to burn it all if I wasn't concerned about my apple and cherry trees.

Starting a Garden

Narelle recently wrote,

Hello, Kimberly (that's my middle name!) I am a newbie to your
site...but I recently purchased a few of your ebooks and thoroughly
enjoyed them! I too am trying to establish a good garden for my family,
and had a blast this summer, and learned a lot too! I too am wanting a
garden that is productive, while attractive! I wanted to ask if you
minded me asking you a couple of questions as to gardening as your
garden is pretty much what I have been aiming for? I'll tack them on
here, and if you don't have time, I understand as I am a busy momma
too, with 4 kids 7 and under. OK...How many raspberry/blackberry plants
would you need for a family of 6 to provide enough fresh and plenty for
canning/freezing/jam/pie fillings etc. Do you recommend thornless or
thorny (I'd like the kids to be able to pick them without too much
pain, but don't want to sacrifice flavour either!) (tha't my main
question, is how much do I need....tomatoes, pickles) I too would like
currants, have planted a red lake, but it's not doing so
great...husband loves blackcurrant juice. I too have been looking into
espaliers...it was like reading a book I had written myself! LOL Hope
you are doing well, and I truly hope this isn't a bother for you! You
have been a blessing to me already...Thank you! Narelle

The thing about raspberries and blackberries is that they do spread over time, and can be easily propogated (made to spread) so when buying them, if you bought a couple of packages of raspberry canes (maybe 20?) you could quickly turn that into an awful lot of raspberries, once they get established. The nice thing about that too, is that it would give you the chance to get used to having your rapsberries, and seeing how much of them you would use.

I think the Thornless Red Laethams have the best flavor of all of the raspberries we have, and the Purple Royalty Raspberry comes in a close second (those have thorns). The Laetham's don't spread as fast, but the fruit is enormous, and there are rarely any thorns. The Royalty also produces a nice, big fruit with lots of flavor.

As for how much of other things you need, it depends on a lot of things, such as where you live, and what sort of growing season you have, and how you plan to use what you are growing. I also add one more thing to that list: how much does it cost in the store vs. how hard is it to grow/harvest/preserve? When our weather doesn't cooperate too well up here in Michigan, I need way more plants of peppers and tomatos than when we have nicer, milder weather (at which time we usually have an over-abundance of tomatos and peppers). Usually, though, this is what we plant and how we use it:

• 50 Roma Tomato plants (canned Tomato sauce and Salsa--I do about 100 jars of sauce and 250 of salsa on average)


• 25 Red Pepper Plants--these will produce both green and red peppers but require a long growing season to get "really red" (roasted red pepper sauce, salsa, relish, stir fries)


• 100 sets of onions--SETS NOT SEEDS! (used in Salsa, pickles, and other canning recipes requiring lots of onions).


• 50 cloves of garlic (used mostly in canning recipes but also as roasted garlic spread on toast, and also used fresh)


• about 10-20 pickle plants (used for relish, bread and butter pickles, and also fresh in the salad when peeled--I do about 200 jars)


• 5 Hot Pepper Plants of various types--these are quite prolific (used in salsa, and also dried for use in Chili and other mexican dishes later). If you have very young children you may want to be extra cautious about these as they can burn skin badly if broken open. Only adults can and should handle them, with gloves on. You need to be careful about having them in the dehydrator too...it can be really strong. I find it easier to dry them somewhere out of the way like the basement.


• I started with 10 strawberry plants, but now I have about 100 by just clipping and replanting the "runners" from the original plants. Now that I have lots of plants, I either give away or sell the young plants. Sometimes I use them to replace plants that don't look like they are doing too well. The first year with strawberries, they make very small berries, but as they get older, the berries get bigger and more plenteous. Everbearing Varieties don't spread as much but have 2 main harvests per year. Junebearing spread faster and only have a harvest in June.


• My 2 grapevines make about 3 bushels of grapes.


• My 1 apple tree has been making about 2 peck to 1 bushel of apples within 6 years of planting (our's is 9 years old).


• 2 packages of Basil Seeds (I freeze basil chopped fine in ice cube trays.)

I think we have given up on corn. It takes up a lot of room and really depletes the soil. Besides that, it can be purchased cheaply from a local organic farm stand.

I often plant other things too which we just enjoy fresh, such as radishes, watermelon, cucumbers (not the pickle variety), squash, pumpkins, various herbs (some of which are perennial and have been in the garden for a long time now), and snow peas. What I listed for you here is what we use for preserving mostly.

About your currants, some currant plants tend to disease, which is why for years currants and gooseberries were outlawed in some states (this ban was lifted, as I understand it, by varieties that are less prone to the diseases that killed pine trees which these plants carried). You may want to go to the library and find Rodale's "Weed, Disease, and Pest I.D. Guide" which is a very handy reference (in fact, I think it is a good one to purchase as you will refer to it again and again). This way, you can check to see if there are any problems with the currant plant itself. My currants grow crazy, but mine are the red variety. The other idea is to ask someone at the nursery you bought them from. Usually mail order is not as good as you want something that has already been living in your local area, especially if it is an "investment" like a fruit tree or bush. A nursery is also a good source of gardening advice relating to big purchases such as bushes, trees, and vines. Still, if you bought it from a catalogue or website, you may want to ask them for some advice too.

What a blessing!

One of the most frequently asked questions I get is this: "Do you ever get discouraged regarding finances/living on one income/financial struggles/hardships/hard times?"

The short answer: yes.

I think it is human nature...we are all control freaks to one degree or another LOL. When things are out of our control and going badly it feels like you are racing down a road with no breaks and no steering wheel.

I was having one of those times again recently. About 6 months ago, someone hacked my shopping cart (they didn't steal information, but instead used my shopping cart as a proxy server), and then when I was fixing the problem I had the classic "one thing after another" go wrong...including deleting my database by accident. Unfortuately, MySQL doesn't warn you before you drop a table from your database...it just does it and there is no undo button....and in all of that, my orders dropped to zero, and I felt like I had to take care of some needs that I knew were stressing my dh out.

Well....thankfully the Lord provided for that through a series of web design jobs and I was able to meet those needs after tithes. A few weeks later though as I was in my prayer closet, I felt convicted about the fact that I started this business as a means to give a faith promise offering to missions, and God had faithfully provided the amount that I had promised Him towards missions (and often beyond that amount)...but now I was using what I earned toward other things...not that they were bad, but I had become behind by two months in what I had promised the Lord all because I was feeling really panicky about money and spending what I had promised God in private towards missions on other things. Ever notice that? When you get really worried about money, most of us don't cut out things that matter to us in the here and now, day to day--we cut out things we give to others, and to the Lord.

Anyway...long story short...I felt very convicted about that, and I have prayed and asked the Lord to help me be more faithful, and also asked Him to renew my faith, and to supernaturally provide my faith promise. Today, after praying, I heard the ding that indicates I received an email, and lo, an order for the amount of my delinquent faith promise plus enough for the ATM fee (LOL God thinks of everything).

I shared this with my 14 year old dd who rejoiced with me, and then said, "Mom, I am trusting God for my faith promise too, but I haven't had any income because I get paid only when you sell a Bread by Hand Ebook (because she illustrated it), and you haven't had any sales..." so we prayed, and when I came back in tonight to check email, she had nearly enough to give her faith promise.

It's exciting to watch God move and to be a conduit of His blessings...receiving so we can give.

And that is what we often forget when we are worried about provision...we forget how unbelievable awesome it is to watch God use means other than a steady income to provide. If I had "a real job" (whatever that is ;)), I would have a regular income, and know that next week I will get paid x-amount of dollars...but when I am first and foremost a keeper at home, with a small amount of income on the side through an online business, I don't have the same "security"....but it is more exciting watching God move and also watching Him teach me during those dry times.

And the winner is....OREGANO!

In the strange survival of the fittest smackdown in my herb garden, it would seem that Oregano beats all other herbs hands down, and that is not good news for my oregano plants ;).

5 years ago, when I first planted a large herb garden in the front of my house, the idea was to create an oasis, with a lovely cobblestone path that gently wove under a wisteria-draped archway, and through splashes of color and scents of my favorite herbs, and past a young apple tree, and a young cherry tree. Alas, that is not what happened.

That path weaves under a wisteria-draped archway (which had to be rebuilt with 4x4s because the wisteria crushed the other archway), past mounds of overgrown oregano, which has sometimes masked even the stone pathway itself, and which completely surrounds both trees, and even grows under the archway, and as you approach it.

I discussed this with my favorite plant person at my favorite nursery and her sage advice was, "Why did you plant so much oregano?" That's the thing. I didn't. I planted two wee little plants, looking oh so innocent. ;) I actually took the precautions with my mint by placing that in a spot where it would not likely sprall everywhere (as mint is prone to do), and instead, the Oregano so took over that it has overgrown the area where the mint was too. The mint looks straggly and barely alive amidst all of that oregano. Then there's the lemon balm, which also started to take over...though the oregano and lemon balm appear to have been evenly matched, and thus the lemon balm remained in it's own corner of the garden, and looks ok when I remember to trim it.

Today, after we were done with school, the kids and I went out and pulled 5 large wheelbarrows full of oregano out of the herb garden AGAIN. (I say again because we started this job in the spring, but what we pulled out grew back...and we were sure we got all of the roots). The garden could look so nice if everything would just stay in it's designated spot. LOL

Under all of that oregano, as I was reaching in and pulling out with leather gloves on, I suddenly felt something sharp and found my long lost dog rosebush (oh, there you are! LOL I was wondering where my 10 year anniversary gift went!!), and it seemed quite happy when I pulled the oregano off of it, if rose bushes can be happy. Within a matter of an hour, it already looked more perky.

While cleaning the garden we also found some of the stepping stones from the first pathway that got swallowed up by oregano (before I switched to a cobble stone concrete mold LOL).

Next on the list is to weed better in the back garden, near the grape vine. I don't know how weeds grow so fast in that particular area, but with grapes nearly ripe we need to have it cleared for walking and picking. I wish I could post smells on my blog (would that not be cool???) because there is NOTHING quite like the smell of your garden when your grapes are ripening. It takes me back to being on the Danube river in a vineyard, helping pick grapes one November too many years ago...They look so pretty on the grape vine too. I'm going to post a picture soon (when, ah, the weeds are gone! LOL)

So, moral of the story: Oregano should also be potted to keep from spreading, and don't ever let it go to seed!

Was it worth the $25?

It was one of those days yesterday.

My inlaws wanted to have my daughter Isobel over for a few days, seeing as how they have had each of the other kids over during different parts of the summer. I decided to drive her down to the detroit area myself because I had some shopping to do, at J.C. Penny. See, Martin gets giftcard things from his gas card for spending so much each week on gas going to and from work, and this week it was a JC Penny gift card. No JC Penny's near us, so we had to go to the big city....to make a long story short. So he gave me a little receipt, and sent me on my way.

I dropped all of the kids off for some quality time with their grandparents and went to the mall, to cash in my money at JC Pennys. Maybe I am just out of touch from living in the country so long but I felt like I was transported to another planet or maybe another dimension when I walked through the mall doors. I felt like country mouse visiting his city cousin. I might as well have been wearing a denim overalls with the red bandana around my neck and a piece of wheat grass sticking out from between my teeth with a straw hat on...I had dressed up a bit because I knew I'd be shopping with the "beautiful people" (LOL) but I still felt like a hick in what I was wearing.

First stop was the ladies department as I was hoping to find a nice church dress, especially since I am just now learning to play piano at the age of 37 (and hve been put on the piano rotation by the music teacher at church!! that's anotehr story!!!), and I will be needing some nicer outfits. Well, let's just say you can't find a cammy at JC Pennys' for under $25, let alone a nice dress. *sigh*. I went to the clearance rack only to discover the shirts I was looking at were actually dresses....really short dresses....when I asked the sales lady if there were any dresses on sale. She also pointed me to a nice dress that was 75% off (so it was *only* $72.00! Whata deal!), and I decided maybe our family needed some bath towels instead.

Down to the housewares department I discovered that for $14.99 (on sale) you can get a bath towel. A bath towel, not a lot of bath towels. *sigh*....ok, that's not going to work.

Shoes....well here's a pair of $15 flip flops (no...I don't think so)

It really is sticker shock to try to find clothing in someplace other than Goodwill or Salvation Army!!

I finally found a little rack in the plus size deparment that had blouses on sale for just $6.95 each, and I bought three of them. They are not especially dressy but will be nice for Wednesday evening church and for teaching in our homeschooling co-op this fall.

I get up to the register and hand the lady the slip my dh gave me only to find out that he was supposed to have cashed it in for a real gift card at the gas station. The gal who was working the checkout was thankfully sweet enough to put my things behind the counter while I took care of that, and also told me where to find the nearest Speedway gas station.

I went to that station only to be told they were out of JC Penny's cards, and they directed me to the next station, where they were also out of cards, where they directed me to the next station...and so on and so forth until 5 stations and a half a tank of gas later I found a gift card, and needed directions back to the mall. All this time during the driving, I was reminded of why I am thankful I don't live in the city: traffic, road rage, inconsiderate drivers, ill timed lights, and did I mention traffic??

Sweaty, a little irritated, and very tired, I walked back into the mall, to the counter, grabbed my stuff, paid for it, and moved on.

While at the mall I had to go to my favorite store there(The Franklin Covey Store) because the puppy chewed up my little bookmark thing in my planner (which snaps in on the day that you are on), and so I decided to pick one up there, since they have nice ones. I walked passed one of those kiosks only to be given the hard sell by some sales girl trying to get me to buy a nail polishing kit for some $50 (are you kidding me??), and telling me how beautiful my hands are (seriously doubting that--I had spent the last week in the garden, and canning, girlfriend), and so on and basically not letting me leave, until I became uncharacteristically rude with her. I really hate that. Why do people not respect you until you let loose the floodgates of your frustrations at them?? Why can't "No Thank You" be good enough to these people??

I walked across the mall, appalled at what I was seeing in some places...what on earth is going on with today's fashions? Yes, maybe I'm behind the times, but I live in a little town and don't get out to the big bad city much (remember, though I was raised in suburbia, for all intents and purposes, I am still country mouse LOL). I went to the coffee kiosk and bought a cappachino from someone who had more jewelry on her/him (I'm not really sure what gender this particular person was, which is scary eh?) to sink a battleship. I'm not sure how he/she walks or even stands with all of that metal. AND...is there a reason why there is someone has a cuss word tatooed on their forehead?? Is there a reason why someone would HIRE someone for customer service with a tatoo ofa cussword on their forehead??

As I sat down with my cup of coffee, a gaggle of teen girls, about my daughter's age walked up and decided to impress everyone (or so they thought) with their knowledge of vulgar language, tight clothes, short skirts, and excessive makeup. I immediately sent up a prayer thanking God for a daughter like Ruth and I've prayed for these girls on several occasions now....and yet, they didn't seem to be the only group of 14 year olds (approximately) who were running around the mall in what I would consider to be either a poor-taste halloween costume, bed clothes, or underware, using language that most street walkers of 100 years ago would have been ashamed to use.

Then I realized I was starting to sound like someone's grandma with my running internal monologue. Am I that old?? Or is the world just going totally NUTS??? Maybe it's a little of both.

all I can say is...after spending nearly a half a tank of gas, 4 hours, and much energy wasted fighting off rabid kiosk-salespeople, I'm not sure if all off that was worth the $25...lol

Too bad they don't give away bonus gift cards to the salvation army store. that would be awesome!

Where has the summer gone?

Here it is, already the end of August...how did that happen?

In case anyone is wondering, I didn't fall off the face of the earth, I've only been crazy busy with life as a Joyful Momma :-) It's been one of those good kinds of busy.

Firstly, I've canned up 7 bushels of tomatoes into well over 100 quarts of salsa (though I am not sure of the exact total...I'm still lining up my jars on the basement shelves)...and 40 quarts of pickle relish (believe it or not, i fear that may not be enough the way my guys eat relish around here). I've frozen what seems like a million (but probably isn't) basil, cilantro, and fresh tarragon ice cubes for later usage in recipes calling for the use of fresh herbs. This way, you get about 2-3 T of fresh chopped herbs in a handy package. :-) (note: don't create water ice cubes with trays after using them for this purpose as they sometimes retain the flavor)

Then I've still be sanding cabinet doors for my kitchen (with the help of children), and painting cabinets....I'm not sure how it is that we still aren't done...it seems like we've done this all summer LOL...but it's been a good time.

where on earth did all of those weeds come from in the garden?????

I fixed my shopping cart, and then realized I deleted my database (doh!)...Thankfully I did have a backup, but unfortuately, I can't figure out how to use the backup to insert this jumble of information into the MySQL database...I guess that is going to be my new lesson learned---MySQL Rescue and Repair. LOL What this means is that anyone who is a returning customer may have to re-create an account.

Of course, summer has also invovled a lot of watermelon eating, bon fires, s'mores, trips to the lake to swim with the turtles, playing with my MiniDV camera, working at VBS, going for walks, having a house full of neighbor kids, and looking at the stars....but it will be nice to get back to our school routine too.

Great Music!

I just found the most wonderful Web radio station, Abiding Radio.com What a blessing.

This radio station has some gorgeous traditional-style music on it, including the music of the Steve Petit team, Outreach Quartet, and others. Check it out!

Happy Born Again Birthday to Me :-)

God is so good.

It's been 17 years of serving Him as of today. Seventeen years ago today, I wandered around lost in Prague, Czechoslovakia in the heat of the blazing August sun (lost both literally and figuratively), until I ran into someone who told me of a Savior who loved me and who died for me. I had long been convinced of my need for a Savior but was convinced through wrong information that I had gone beyond the point that God could forgive me. How very wrong that notion is! There is no one so wicked that God would not save him or her if they would only call upon the name of Jesus.

As much as it disgusts me sometimes (in my human frailty and fleshly sense of "justice), even Adolf Hitler, were he to call upon Jesus while still alive, would be in heaven today.

Even Osama Bin Laden is not beyond salvation's reach--that's how powerful Jesus' blood is.

Even Napolean. Or Mussalini. Or any of the wicked persons of past or present. Jesus can and will forgive anyone.

He even forgave and received me, when I called upon the name of Jesus.And, He'll do the same for you.

If you need the savior, call upon His name today! For more information about the free gift He has for you, click here.