Online conference

One of my delights from earlier this month was listening to this year's The Gospel Coalition plenary sessions over the book of Galatians for their National Conference.  Every day, during either nap time or bed time I'd pull out my Bible and listen thru one of the sessions until I went thru the entire letter.  It was such a rich experience, and from the comfort of my home!!!!

Changing the way I fold clothes

A little over a month ago I literally woke up one day and decided I was going to begin folding clothes the "Marie Kondo" way, whose basic premise is that you fold clothes in a way that they stand and don't become unraveled every time you take something out.  It also allows you to see all your clothes at once.  And let's be real... it just looks a lot nicer.

It took me about two days (with normal life and normal interruptions) to refold almost all of our drawers and closets.  And even though the chore of folding clothes in itself has not reduced in time, it is somehow much more gratifying to do.

A funny little unexpected perk of this is that it has caught the kids' attention, so much so that they now like to fold things.  Here you see Byron showing me how he is folding his Doggie. 

They also seem to be more careful in going thru their drawers, and if they put something back, instead of just throwing it back or putting it in the dirty laundry, I've noticed that they "refold it" (to the best of their ability) and put it back.  A big bonus!!!!

Birthday presents

The weekend before my 32nd birthday I was able to attend a conference at church where I got to meet and sit under the teaching of two of my favorite Bible teachers and authors.

With Kathleen Nielson

With Jen Wilkin

WHY-Wednesday: Why I despise myself for hating my laundry so much.

Oh how I hate dealing with laundry.  No matter how hard I try to figure out a system that helps me make laundry more manageable, it always seems to have the upper hand on me.  I honestly feel like the system I have going on right now is the best I've ever had, but still... as I type this, there are two loads that are partly folded, partly waiting to be folded, and a load of diapers that is yet to be put away.

It's actually not that bad, a lot of it is folded (remember I said that my current system seems to be the best so far) except notice that it is still in the laundry room, NOT where clean laundry belongs.  Never mind that the diaper load was done three days ago.  It's still there.

I hate doing laundry.  Yet I'm being ridiculous. 

How dare I despise the privilege of washing my own clothes at home?

Let's evaluate my circumstances for a little-- 

Most middle-class American homes like ours don't even have a separate "laundry room."  We do.

Strike ONE.

If I were still leaving in Mexico, regardless of my social class, chances are I would NOT even own a dryer.

Strike TWO.

As a matter of fact, during the two years we lived in Mexico after getting married, we didn't even own a washer and dryer.  I would take my dirty laundry to a laundromat and spend an entire afternoon doing my entire week's worth of laundry outside my home.

Strike THREE.

 Most people around the world will at best get to wash their clothes by hand (yes, I like to insert this little guilt trip in my blog every once in a while :p).
Strike FOUR.

Yet, despite it all, I still have the audacity to complain about my laundry.  Oooohhh, how it piles up.  Oooohhh, how I never seem to get it finished.  Oooohhhh, how I hate folding it.  Ooooohhhh, how I hate putting it away.  Oooohhhh... (fill in the blank).

Really???? Shame. On. Me.

Thank you Jesus, that though laundry can seem like such an unbeatable "giant," I still get to do it at home.  In a washer.  And a dryer.  In my own laundry room.  Thank you.

So what have I done to make laundry more manageable in our home?

I feel like I've tried it all.  From having a "laundry day" where I tackle all of the week's laundry in one day (majorly disliked that method), to having two "laundry days" where I split the week's laundry in two days, to doing a load of laundry every day (yes, I was doing small loads every day except Sundays... also no fun).

But all three of those methods just about did me in.  Whether I was washing clothes once a week, or washing clothes every day, with dirty diapers thrown in there twice a week, I was thinking about laundry ALL THE TIME. 

About two months ago I decided to try something new.  New for me, at least.  It may be common sense for the majority.

I used to just have one dirty laundry basket for the entire house, which no matter how hard I worked on staying on-top of, was always overflowing with clothes.  So I decided to add three additional baskets to the laundry room to help tame the monster:

Nothing fancy.  Just some $7 Target hampers.  

About every two days, I empty the "main" dirty laundry basket located in our room and separate the clothes into three categories in our laundry room:  whites, colors, and larges (jeans, towels, jackets, sweaters, etc).  Whenever one is full, I just stick it into the washing machine, then dryer, then out of dryer.

I don't think about it.  Don't obsess about it.  Don't revolve my week around "laundry day" anymore.  It just gets done when it gets done (except on Sundays, that's my day off.  But that's another post entirely).

And when there are about two or three clean loads sitting in the laundry room, I finish folding, and put it away all in one day.  Not too bad.

How do you tackle your laundry?  Do you find yourself complaining about this first-world problem as much as I do?

(PS -- I've just started making my own laundry detergent.  I'm excited to see how well it works and how cost efficient it becomes).

WHY-Wednesday: Why we don't own a deep freezer.

(Update on September 20, 2014-- I got a smart phone last week, and did not realize that the pictures on it where linked to my blog's pictures.  I began deleting a whole bunch of them, including the ones that were on this post.  You can still read the post and "learn" from it, and if you are absolutely in dyer need of seeing what's in my freezer, you can come on over anytime :) )

A friend of mine asked me a few weeks ago via Facebook if I had a deep freezer.  With all my chicken stock, and meat-freezing, where do I have room for everything?  

You must have a deep freezer! -- she assumed.

Well... truth be told-- I would love to have one, but don't.

We don't have room for one, they bring up the power bill, and the hubby is afraid I'll be storing 15-year old dinner casseroles, then serving him some.

So how do I do it?

How do I manage to successfully store everything in the one I have?

Let's take a peek at my freezer and see if we can answer these questions.

My lovely freezer as-is.  Nothing polished, nothing added, nothing (obviously) organized.

Nuts.

Bread scraps.

Butter.

All my whole wheat bread-making ingredients.

Which reminds me... I haven't made a loaf in a while.

Cheese.

Ground coffee.

(Only if it is not in an air-tight container).

Cookie dough.

Bacon.

Old bananas.

Bell peppers.

Cooked hot dogs.

Deli meat.

Squeezed lime juice.

Meatloaf meat, ready to be thawed and cooked.

Onion and celery scraps for making chicken stock.

Lentil soup.

Fully cooked black and navy beans.

Chicken breasts.

Ham bone, and leftover ham.

Frozen fruit for my morning smoothie, and some ice cream.

Pancakes.

Artichoke hearts.

Chicken stock.

Thoughts in response to what I keep in my freezer--

*  I hardly ever use my freezer space for fully-cooked meals.  I will never put a casserole, a whole pizza, or convenient food from the store.  What I'll do instead is freeze partially prepared food.  For example, I'll freeze my bread scraps, but won't freeze the french toast casserole I'll be using them in.  I use my freezer space to make dinner prep in the afternoon go smoother, not to eliminate it completely.

*  I always keep a few "regulars" in the freezer such as my nuts, bread scrap bag, onion/celery bag, and bread-making ingredients.  Other than that, everything else rotates pretty quickly out of the freezer.  Notice how aside from my meatloaf bag, all of my other ground beef bags are gone.  I've used them all!  Now I am working through my chicken breasts.  Only one main meat will "dominate" the freezer at a time.

*  Whenever I am planning my weekly meals, I always look through my freezer to see what I have on hand.  This is what helps me rotate through my freezer quickly.

*  Notice how I only have one ice cream box.  As a matter of fact, I rarely have desserts like that (it was leftover from the kids' parties).  Desserts and ice cream like that are yummy to have, but are not the best way to maximize your freezer space.

***

My concluding thoughts:

1.  Focus more on freezing partially prepared meals opposed to fully prepared ones,
2.  Rotate through your freezer quickly,
and
3.  Freeze items that would make your life easier, not yummier.  

Three years of motherhood

She not only wears different shoes, she wears each one on the wrong foot.

 

I've been a mom for three years.  Wow!  It feels like it's been much longer.  

People say the years go by fast, and in a way they do, 

but being a 24/7 full-time mom... 

well... let me tell you something-- the days are long, and so are the years.

I am sure one day I'll wake up and realize they did in fact go by fast, and will wish for these little years to return, but not now... not today.  

Today I find myself repeating this quote I came across some blog a while back:

"I have to stop dreaming of 'one day' when things will be easier.  

Because, the truth is, it may get easier, but it will never be better than today."

WHY-Wednesday: Why I read through my Bible in a year, every year?

"As Christians, we should read through the Bible in a year, every year" 
--I've heard said a time or two.

"How ambitious.   How fun.  But really...?"

Reading through the Bible in a year, every year.
 Let me tell you something...

This has been one of the most powerful ways by which the Lord has been working in my life this year.

It's exhilarating. 

Yes, I do believe there is a place for quality instead of quantity in Bible-reading.

Yes, I do agree that life is busy.  We are young moms, soccer moms, homeschooling moms, working moms, sleepless moms, aching moms, stressed moms...

Life happens.  I get it, I get it.

But even so...

As our Sunday School pastor says:  "if some is good, more is better."

If a little bit of Bible-reading is good, why not drench ourselves in it?

If this Means of Grace has been gifted to us, why not rip it open every morning, every year?

I think this is what C.S. Lewis mant when he famously said:

"[we are] like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

We are far too easily pleased with convenient Bible-reading tools catered for our fast-paced and busy lives.

We are far too easily pleased with the excuse that we are too busy to take the time to read through it.

We settle for a life that is ignorant of the vast richness that comes through doing this.

We are far too easily pleased.

We simply cannot imagine the richness and the spiritual growth we will experience by aggressively reading our Bibles. 

We cannot, we cannot.

You have to do it to know it!

*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"*"

I don't want to close this post without giving a few practical suggestions for doing this--

- Use a Bible that is meant to be read in a year.  I am currently using this one and love it (it also has a kindle edition for your tablet). If you do not have a Bible that keeps the pace for you, you will not read it as fast and will then become discouraged. 

-  Try to stay ahead.  Things happen, life happens.  But if you fall behind, just spend a day or two catching up.  No big deal.

-  Depending on what book of the Bible you are currently reading through, most readings will take an average of 15 minutes.  Fifteen minutes!!  Give or take.  This is nothing!  You can do it in the morning, during lunch break, before going to bed, while the kiddos watch Curious George, etc.  Time should not be a hindering factor.

-  If you would like to begin getting in the habit of reading through your Bible now (yay!), I would recommend starting half-way through, where the date of your read-through-your-Bible Bible tells you to.  This way, when the New Year rolls around, you'll be back on track.

WHY-Wednesday: Why I loved "Moms' Night Out"

(If you don't know what movie I am talking about, please click here for the trailer.  And just as a heads up, the trailer does not do it justice.  When I first saw it, it did not appeal to me one bit)

Have you ever watched a movie and thought to yourself:  "this would have been the perfect movie had it not been for all the (unnecessary) swearing or sex-scenes"?

Moms' Night Out is that movie!  They finally made one.  A very funny and touching movie... without the bad language or unnecessary sex-scenes.  I laughed so hard and cried so much.  Did not know those two could go so well together.

Now, before I move on, let me get something out there in the open, just so you know where I am coming from--  I am NOT a fan of Facing the Giants or Fireproof.  These are what people call "Christian movies."  They are cheesy and unrealistic (in my opinion).  The Gospel is being presented and "shoved-down" our throats in the most awkward moments.  And forget about the predictability.  Extremely predictable.  In addition to preaching (in my opinion) the "prosperity gospel."

"It's the difference between a Christian movie and a movie made by Christians" -- a friend said. 

Moms' Night Out was a movie made by Christians, not the other way around.

Also--

*  It was real.  The humor was not overly exaggerated, and was relatable.

*  I am not laughing at them, but laughing with them-- you know what I mean?

* Sean, the husband of the main character (Allie), is a wonderful man.  Played by Lord of the Rings' hobbit Sean Astin, he comes across a loving, caring, and wonderful husband and father.  A fresh take to the looser, dumb, worthless, jerk father/husband-like figure Hollywood is portraying in their movies these days.

*  The plot is very well made.  It is funny and complex, all at the same time.  A combination between Steve Carell's Date Night and Steve Martin's Father of the Bride.

*  I love how the bottom-line message of this story did not come through the "perfect" stay-at-home mom, but through a single, hard-working mother.

*  It moved me.  And I think that every mother who is still "in the trenches" with little ones will be moved as well.  It penetrated my heart in an unexpected way.

*  It encouraged me to view and love the beauty of my every-day mess.

I encourage everyone who is wanting more of these kinds of movies to go out and watch it at the "big theater" (opposed to waiting for it to come out at the Dollar Theater or Redbox).

We've got to VOTE with our wallet.

ps-- this is a movie that both mothers AND fathers of all ages will enjoy, not just something to watch with your mama-friends.

WHY-Wednesday: Why I make my own yogurt?

Did you know that making yogurt at home is one of the most fool-proof things to do?

It's a close second only to making your own peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

And best of all, it's incredibly impressive.

"why yes, I do make my own yogurt!" -- you say.

Just think about how awesome you would sound saying those words :)  And at the cost of hardly no effort!  (or money!)

Of course, if you are not a yogurt-eating person, then there is no point to it.  But if you're like me and use it in your morning smoothies in order to benefit from its probiotics, then this is a no-brainer.  You've gotta do it!

Okay, okay... so it really isn't that easy.  There is a bit of a learning curve, and different people do it differently.  But once you have found your style for doing it, it truly, truly, truly is incredibly easy!  I pinky promise :)

For example, all you need are two ingredients:  milk and live culture (which is just a fancy word people use for leftover yogurt).

This is not a how-to blog, so I'll spare you from the countless pictures that go along with a how-to post.  What I'll do instead is point you in the direction of my college-friend Marilee.

Take a few minutes to take a look at Marilee's post here if you want to learn more about making your own yogurt.

This post was mostly inspirational and a rough guide for me.  I actually do it quite differently than Marilee.  If this is something that interests you, I would encourage you to watch a few YouTube how-to videos and maybe a blog post or two on it.  My process for making yogurt is actually more like this one.

I use a whole gallon of 2% milk and use a cheese cloth to strain it at the end for about 20 minutes (save the whey!).  I also whisk it until smooth at the very end and store it in two large store-bought yogurt containers.

Anyway, for what it's worth... I love making my yogurt!  And you will too :)

**** Update Sunday, May 25, 2014****
My how-to post on how to make homemade yogurt.

WHY-Wednesday: Why I wake before my kids do?

Yes, I really, really, really do wake up before my kids do.

Every.Single.Day.

Monday through Sunday.

At 6 AM.

No exceptions.

And will continue to do so until the day I die.

Best thing I do all day.  PERIOD.

Emma does not get out of bed until her light clock turns green at 7:15 AM, and Baby Byron can normally stay in his crib until that time on most mornings.  He may need some intervention every now and then-- nurse, turn on his mobile, change his diaper, etc.  But most often than not, I can get him to stay in his crib until 7:15 AM as well.

But why, why, whyyyy do I do this?

Let me take you back in time a little--

Eight+ months ago, our sweet little second-born blessed our lives with his presence.  Baby Byron turned my (what seemed to me to be) perfect world upside down.  I was now constantly tired and unable to sleep when I wanted to, had no guaranteed down time, I was resentful towards my children and my life in general, I could never do anything in peace, my house was always a mess, etc etc etc.

One Friday, while having lunch with some friends, I asked one of my mama friends, who is the mother of three young boys and whose husband is a medical resident (aka-- she is a single mother), if things ever got easier.  

She said:  "No, I still feel like I am constantly sucking for air."

Me:  (great!)

Friend:  "I've just have had to come to terms with that fact, and I better just learn to be good at it.  You know?  Something that has helped me a lot is to wake up before my kids do."

And that was that.  No explanation, no reason why.  She just said it and that was that.

In desperation, I decided to try it the following day.  

Alarm went off at 6:05 AM, got out of bed, did my own thing until 7:15 AM, and have never once looked back.

The thing with waking up before the kids do, is that it gives you control over one thing in your life-- your wake up time.  There is absolutely nothing worse (for me) than being woken up by someone else.  I can tolerate the alarm clock better than a child simply because they at least have a snooze button.

It also gives you time in the morning to lunge around in your slippers, drink a cup of coffee, read, plan your day, send some emails, write some letters, have your quiet time, journal, etc.  The sky is the limit.

Think I'm crazy?  Give it a try.  I dare you to :)  And let me know how it goes... :)

WHY-Wednesday: Why I keep random things in the fridge and freezer?

Please take a look at the random items that now inhabit my fridge and freezer--

Ziplock bag of frozen banana pieces.

Why?  Banana bread.

Ziplock bag of frozen bread scrapes.

Why?  French toast casserole or breakfast casserole.

Leftover Easter ham bone that the in-laws were going to toss.

Why?  Ham stock.

Frozen grilled hotdogs that were going to be tossed after a BBQ last weekend.

Why? Weenies and beanies.

Now don't get me wrong (and my mother will be the first to attest to this), I am not afraid to throw food away.  If I know I will not be eating or using it in a recipe of some sort in the near future, I have no issue in getting rid of it. 

Other random food items you'll find in my fridge/freezer at any given point--

* Ziplock bag in the freezer that contains veggie scrapes such as onion peel, carrot ends, garlic layers (and old, dry garlic), bottom of celery head, etc.  Why?  I will later use these to make chicken stock.

* Leftover food.  Why?  If I've made enough food to feed the family for two nights and still have extra (but do not want to feed us with it again for a third time), I freeze it and use it sometime again in the future.

*  Cooked dried beans.  Why?  Canned beans are already cheap, but cooking your own dry beans is even cheaper.  This is a no brainer-- cook them all at once, freeze them in separate smaller containers, and thaw and use in the future when a recipe calls for them.

* Milled wheat flour.  Why?  I've started milling my own flour to make my own whole wheat bread (I know, crazy!  I may just have too much time on my hands).  If there is any leftover flour, I place it in the freezer to keep it from loosing its nutritional value, and just use later when making pancakes or cookies or something.

* Chopped veggies.  Why?  If I see that green peppers, for example, are on clearance... well, hellooooo veggie-I-never-buy-bc-you're-too-expensive-- chopped and stored away in a ziplock bag for later use.

And there are many more.  

Next time you come over to my house, don't hesitate to ask what random things I have in my fridge/freezer.  You may like what you see :) Just promise not to be too shocked.

WHY-Wednesday: Intro

In an attempt to make my blog a little more unique and special, I have come up with WHY-Wednesdays--

WHY-Wednesday will be weekly posts during which I will share the why of things I/we do personally and around the house as a family. 

If you know me at all, you know that I am a very curious and inquisitive person.  I thought it would be fun to make this blog a little more like me :)

Stay tuned for tomorrow's first WHY-Wednesday...

Life in the Trenches

I thought I would record a little bit of the not-so-fun happenings in our home these days.  As I struggle to make it through each day, I am often reminded of the brave and difficult statements other mothers like me publish on facebook or on their blogs -- life is hard, and I never want this blog (or my facebook profile) to come across as if we had it all together.

Let me walk you through today --

1:00 am -- Little Byron is sick, so instead of waking up once during the night, he is now waking up twice.  First feeding.

4:00 am -- He wakes again to feed.

7:30 am - 2 pm -- Emma wakes up asking for mommy:  "moooommy, moooommy... pee-pee, pee-pee" (even though she has a diaper on).  Byron gets up to get her since LB is still asleep.  Emma is not satisfied with daddy, and gets a little upset that mommy did not come get her.  He finally convinces her that he can do the job of getting her to the bathroom.

LB wakes up shortly -- ooops! I have slept in a bad position and my neck is killing me (it is 3:30 pm now and still killing me).  But Emma is starting up a storm in the kitchen while B is trying to have his breakfast and have his quiet time.  So I take him to the kitchen and plop him on the swing.  I then proceed to prepare her breakfast.  I get her plate ready with fruit and bread -- the bread does not have jelly ("sorry honey, I'll put some jelly.  Oh, peanut butter also?  My bad!"), so put on the jelly and peanut butter.

Anyway, I then proceed to sit and nurse LB.  I then change him and put him in this cute halloween outfit.  Of course, he throws up on it as soon as he is ready... ugh!  Compared to the four times he threw up last Monday, this little bit was nothing.  Emma climbs into his crib, then needs help to get out.

Hustle, hustle, hustle... I finally get them dressed and ready to get out the door to get some honey and grains I ordered from Atlanta.  On my way, I get stopped by a policeman -- I was speeding :(  I may have looked like death, because he let me go with a warning.  Sigh!  I wanted to cry.

We then go to Costco to do some groceries.  We come home and Byron is asleep, so we put him in his room.  Emma discovered greek yogurt and honey at Costco, so she wants me to give her some.  Then some more again!  She soon realizes that the yogurt is much more fun to play with than eat, and thus proceeds to put all over her face, arms and shirt.  Then throws some more on the floor (which I had just mopped that morning, btw).  Then says, "oh oh... pee-pee".  I pick her up and she did potty all over her pants.  Take her to the toilet, finishes her pee-pee and then some more po-po.  I take her clothes off, but now she does not want to put clothes on again... she wants to be naked!  I finally convince her to at least put on her underwear, which she agrees to do.

We then spend some time in the kitchen.  She pulls a chair and stands facing the counter.  She wants chicken, then more chicken.  Then she wants to play with the salad spinner -- she put some grapes in it and begins to spin it. 

Finally!  It is 1:30 pm, and time for her nap.  But wait a minute, nap time is no longer the breeze it used to be -- it's a fight!  I carry her against her will to her room.  She refuses a diaper or any clothes, and is screaming all at the same time.  I shut the door and wait for her to calm down (LB is still sleeping through all of this).  Thirty minutes later, after a few unsuccessful tries, she finally agrees to put on her diaper and clothes.  It is after 2 pm and she drops dead asleep in her crib (the other day she was so angry, she climbed out and proceeded to nap on the floor for 3 hours).

2:00 pm -- where is my medal?  So I make myself some decaf coffee with lots of cream and sugar.  Twenty minutes of down time and LB wakes up (story of my life!)

So that's my first half of the day.  Thankfully LB is very chill and is now asleep in his swing after watching me type this entry.  I know that a hectic life is relative, and that one's craziness is another's walk in the park.

If you are not my mom and have read through this entire entry, congratulations! 

Pan de Muertos

My goal is to begin making something Mexican once a week -- a meal, a dessert, or celebrate a holiday.  This has been non-existent so far, but now that we have children, I realize that if I want them to know their Mexican roots, I need to be intentional in bringing it to them. 

In lieu of Day of the Dead, I thought it would be fun to make Day of Dead Bread.  Though one week late, I decided to make Pan de Muertos with Hot Chocolate Abuelita.  So good!  The bread does not look like it should, but it sure tasted wonderful!  I am excited for next year.  I think I know how to perfect it.

Homesick

I became very homesick last Saturday.

You see, Mexico won soccer's gold medal against Brazil.  First time E.V.E.R.  It's hard to portray what this win means to Mexicans.  To my American friends -- think Super Bowl and 4th of July fused together.  Think of people yelling "goooooooooooooolllll" all across the nation.  Think people (literally) flooding the streets after winning.  Think of the most patriotic thing you've ever experienced and times it by two.  Get the idea?

Sandwich bread

I have had this odd desire to be able to make my own sandwich bread for well over a year.  I must have tried at least a dozen times before I was able to come up with this:

 

I was so proud and happy with myself, I danced in the kitchen for about 10 minutes.

I did not reach this point all by myself.  There are a few friends who helped me along the way with a number of tips and recipes.  And then most recently, my dear neighbor friend (also named) Lauren walked me through the process of kneading by hand, rising the dough, etc.

End of fridge challenge

As mentioned on a previous post, in preparation for Masters week I wanted to clear my fridge and freezer. Not knowing if we were going to rent this year made it hard to get motivated, especially when Land O Lakes butter was on sale for $1.99/lb at Kroger (hmm... yes, I did purchase 5 lbs of it and they are now nicely stacked in our freezer for our guests to wonder whether we are somehow related to Paula Deen).

BUT, I did do a lot of meal planning based on what we already had in the fridge/freezer to help clear it out.

Before...

After...


I must note that I did cheat some in doing this challenge, since I ended up giving much of our food away to help clear it out faster. Still... I am quite proud of my clean fridge/freezer.