Progress???

Okay, I didn't get up when I wanted to this morning, but I did get everything done that I wanted to.  Plus, I am rid of the fatigue!  I'm still setting the alarm for 6:15 tomorrow morning again, because this is something I definitely need to work on.

I also have a praise about my son.  V is pretty strong-willed, and it is rare to have 2 good days in a row with him.  He has been VERY good all week this week!  Praise the Lord!  I am sooooo pleased with him. 😊 And, he just seems to keep getting better.  There have been NO issues as of yet today.  Woohoo!  Just thought I'd share.

I've got the dishes done, and we have already done school for the day.  Just one more day, and V will be done with Kindy!  Yay!  We did start at an odd time last year, so that's why we're finishing so soon.  As soon as we get our tax refund, we will be ordering his first grade curriculum from My Father's World.  I am so excited, and so is he.  I hope to get done with it by September so that we can start 2nd grade then and get back on track (with the school year), but not a big deal if we don't...I don't want to push too much.  He's already ahead, so we've had the luxury of taking our time when we need to.

Anyway, I'm off to fix lunch.  Then V gets his time outside, and then it's nap time!  Have a good day everyone!

I'm tired and I need a routine!

I woke up tired today, and have been soooooo tired all day...I think it's my MS rearing it's ugly head in the form of fatigue.  Around here, we have fallen into the "routine" of not having a routine, and I think that's wearing on me as well.  I need a routine, but every time I try to get one going, it hasn't even lasted an entire day.  So, I am going to start small.

My first priority is having quiet time with my Lord first thing in the morning.  This hasn't worked out as much as I would like to lately, because I usually don't wake up until I hear A crying on the monitor.  I don't give myself any alone time in the morning, usually because I've been just too tired to get up until I have to.  So, the first thing I need to work on is getting up before the kids so that I have some good, uninterrupted time in the Word.  This is probably the most difficult thing that I will have to do for now.  So, before I can do that, I am going to have to make sure I'm getting enough sleep, and taking my vitamins and such like I should be doing.

Now, Hubby usually gets up at 6:50 in the morning for work, so I think tomorrow I will have the alarm set for 6:15.  I will get up, spend time with the Lord, and then take my bath, wash my hair, get dressed for the day, and send Hubby off to work.  That is all I will PLAN on for now...once I get this established, I will start adding things to my morning routine.  Otherwise, it's too overwhelming if I try to get it all planned out at once.

So, here's what my morning routine looks like so far:

1.  Wake up.
2.  Quiet time with the Lord.
3.  Bath/wash hair.
4.  Dress, fix hair.
5.  Send Hubby off to work.

I think I'll try this for a few days, and hopefully I will get used to it.  I know that whenever I start my day out in fellowship with my Lord, the whole day is always better than if I skip it or wait until later.

The other house cleaning things that I absolutely HAVE to get done daily are:

1.  Keep up on dishes.
2.  Run a load of laundry.
3.  Swipe down bathroom.
4.  Keep house picked up.

I am ashamed to say that lately, the only one of those I have even bothered to keep up with was #1, and occasionally #4.  Even with homeschooling V, there is no excuse for this.  I need to get back on track, because I am sure the state of the house (no matter how neat it looks on the surface) is really one of the major things wearing me out.  And I know I'm not doing the boys any favors by not having a set routine.  V never knows what's going to happen next, and I know that's not very good for him (or his behavior!).

My gut feeling is to just rush into this and create all my daily, weekly, and monthly routines RIGHT NOW and run headlong into the whole thing starting tomorrow.  LOL!  But, I know from personal experience that doesn't really work.

Here is the list of priorities I will be keeping in mind as I gradually give our "routine" a makeover:
1.  God
2.  Husband
3.  Children
4.  Home

I will try to remember to expand somewhat sometime about how these priorities will be helping to shape the routine here at our home.  For now, while the boys are napping, it's off to relax and rest myself for when Hubby comes home!

I love my living room!

The computer was unplugged for a couple of days while we finished up the living room, but now it's all finished!  Well, there is the baseboard behind our loveseat that's waiting to be stained and sealed, but that's it.  Anyway, I have some before, during, and after shots to share.


Murphy, our dog, has no idea the changes that are about to happen!

 


This is after we took out all the brick from our fireplace.


Faith is checking out what we're doing to "her" house.




You can see the spot behind our loveseat where we need to put the trim.  We need to add the wallhangings, still, but what an improvement, huh?  I LOVE IT!!!  It's so nice and cozy now.

Well, I'm inspired to get the rest of my house clean, so I'm off!

Happy 2007! Much to catch up on...

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year! 

Yesterday was also my birthday, and I had a wonderful day!  NO cooking, Hubby let me choose what I wanted for meals, and he went and got it. 💜   We did a little shopping, a little relaxing, and a lot of having fun!  Most of my family also chipped in to buy me an elliptical, as they know I want to try and get in good shape so that I can stay on top of my MS as much as possible.

Speaking of which, the injections that I started just before Christmas have been going really well.  So far, I haven't had any relapsing of symptoms, and this is the longest I've gone for awhile without them.  Yay!  One thing that was really tough for us at first, though, was the fact that I CANNOT get pregnant while on these meds...the miscarriage/defect rate is pretty high, so after much praying and through many tears, Hubby and I decided it would be downright irresponsible to not do anything about getting pregnant.  The thing is, you have to be off the meds for 3 months before even trying, to get it out of your system.  I have been known to take a LONG time to get pregnant (it's been a little over a year since A's been born now, only 2 months nursing, and nothing so far).  That 3 months plus however long it takes to conceive, without doing anything to stop the progression of the MS, can be pretty damaging to me.  And that wouldn't do any good to the 2 blessings the Lord has already given us.  So for now, we have decided that we are just going to have to face that we may be done having our own kids.  But we are definitely open to adoption after things settle and if/when the Lord leads.

Right now, I am in the middle of making up the month's menus.  I have decided that at the beginning of each month, I will make menus for the entire month (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) so I won't have to worry about it.  Today, I'm taking the boys to the grocery store and we will be buy all non-perishables for the month.  That way, each week I will only have to buy the fresh things for that week.

Anyways, I better get moving!  I also plan on getting all the Christmas decorating down this week.

Peanut butter blossoms

These are another popular favorite at our home.

1/2 cup shortening (I use half butter, half shortening)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 egg
2 T milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Milk chocolate kisses

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the shortening and peanut butter with an electric mixer on medium speed 30 seconds.  Add the 1/2 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and baking soda.  Beat till combined, scraping the sides of bowl.  Beat in egg, milk, and vanilla till combined.  Beat in as much flour as you can with the mixer.  Stir in remaining flour.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls.  Roll the balls in the 1/4 cup granulated sugar.  place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 10-12 minutes or till edges are firm and bottoms are lightly browned.  Immediately press a chocolate kiss into each cookie's center.  Transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool.  Makes about 54 cookies.

Spumoni cookies

This is probably the recipe I get asked for the most.  These cookies are delicious, and they look nice, too!

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup chopped pistachios or almonds
6 drops green food coloring
1-2 T cocoa powder
2 T finely chopped maraschino cherries, drained

Mix butter, sugar, vanilla, and egg.  Stir in flour and salt.   Divide dough into 3 equal parts.


Mix nuts and food coloring into one part; mix cocoa into one part; mix cherries into remaining part.

Line bottom and ends of loaf pan with aluminum foil, allowing ends of foil to extend 5 inches over each end of pan.  Press nut dough evenly and firmly into bottom of pan.


Press chocolate dough on top of nut dough.


Finally, press cherry dough on top of chocolate dough.


Cover dough with extended ends of foil.  Refrigerate at least 2 hours, but no longer than 6 weeks.

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.  Remove foil from dough.  Cut dough crosswise into 1/4 inch slices.


Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.


Bake cookies until set, about 10 minutes.  Immediately remove from cookie sheet.


Yummy!  Enjoy!

Christmas Menu

Tomorrow, I will post about some of the cookies I made over the weekend!  But real quick, I wanted to post our Christmas menu, so here it is:

Appetizers:
Mexican meatballs
Tortilla wraps
Mexican tortilla wraps (this will be new this year, Hubby wanted to try them.)
Chips & dip/salsa
Deviled eggs
Soda
Punch
Coffee

Main Meal:

Turkey made with wild rice stuffing
Sweet potato casserole
Mashed potatoes & gravy
Cranberry sauce
Green bean casserole
Rolls

Goodies:
Spritz cookies
Decorated sugar cookies
Spumoni cookies
Mexican wedding cake cookies
Peanut butter blossom cookies
Shortbread bites
Caramel brownies
Chocolate & peanut butter bars
Lemon bars
Divinity
Fudge
Holiday bark
Mint meringues
Peanut brittle
Popcorn balls
Pumpkin pie
Butterscotch pie
Peppermint pie
Upside down apple gingerbread

Sound like a lot?  LOL!  Believe it or not, the goodie list is actually pared down quite a bit from year's past.  My work is definitely cut out for me, but I DO have all the cookies done, and the chocolate PB bars.  Now all I have to do is candies and bars, and the pies I will do a couple days before we have everyone over.  Except for the Mexican tortilla wraps, the appetizers and main meal are almost exactly the same every year.  We don't eat pork here, so we don't do the traditional ham.  As I said before about the cookies, I will try and get some of these recipes posted.  Let me know if there's anything in particular that catches your eye, and I will get to that!

Christmas Baking

I love Christmas baking!  I have been a busy bee the last couple of days.  In the past, I have usually gotten all my cookies baked by the end of October, but since this year's been just a wee bit on the busy side, that hasn't happened.  I am on a roll, though, as I got the two "worst" cookies out of the way...sugar cookies and spritz.  Those, I think, are the most time-consuming, so I always do those first.  Yesterday and today I baked all plain sugar cookies...(I know, the first batch always comes out a little on the "done" side LOL)


...then I iced and sprinkled them.


Sorry, I had another picture of my stovetop covered with done sugar cookies, too, but somehow lost it.  I didn't get a picture of the spritz, either, but they are already in the freezer.  Must keep them safe LOL.  As a project on the TeachingMom's Advent Calendar, V and I also made these cinnamon roll trees yesterday.


Here is a link to the direct recipe.  Yummy!  One of the trees has already mysteriously disappeared LOL.

Tomorrow, I think I will make Mexican wedding cakes.  I also need to tackle my front porch for de-cluttering.  I decided I just can't follow a weekly system for now...I am just going to start at the front of my house and work my way around.  As long as I keep up on basics which are laundry, dishes, keeping the bathroom wiped down, keeping the house picked up and swept, and making my bed every morning.  It has been about a week, and things have been kept up pretty well!  Hopefully, it keeps up as I add more baking and the occasional de-clutter project.  I do NOT want to be scrambling around the few days before Christmas trying to get everything together.

Baked Beef Stew

Here's what we're having for supper tonight!

First, set your oven to 375*F, and spray or grease your pan.  This is really a big enough recipe for a roasting pan.


Next, assemble the ingredients...


2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cups water
6 T quick-cooking tapioca (I didn't have any, so I use 1/2 amount in cornstarch)
4 tsp sugar
3 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
4 lbs beef stew meat (already in pan)
8 medium carrots, cut into 1-inch chunks
6 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered (I just cut into chunks, quarters seem too big)
4 celery ribs cut into chunks (which I didn't have on hand, oh well...)
2 slices bread, cubed

Toss everything into the pan and stir it around really good.


Cover and bake at 375*F for 2 hours or until meat and veggies are tender.

And that's plenty of time to get those dishes done, right?


Enjoy!

It's done!

I have finally gotten through our upstairs porch!  Now, it's not perfect, as Hubby still needs to go through all the hunting/camping stuff to organize it better, but I got what I could into bins for now and you can actually walk through the room!  I put the carpet down, too, although not tacked or anything yet...needs to be flattened out anyway.




And here's all the toys, completely sorted out!  Whew...


I am so proud of V, as he's been keeping them that way, too!  I still think we need to pare down, but at least everything's organized now.  And they are NOT going back into his bedroom...been there, done that!  I let him take out a small bucket of cars at a time, or 1 set of something (such as army guys or construction workers), or just plain 2 toys at a time now.  Everything gets put back in it's place before something else comes out.  This has been working out quite well over the last week.

Oh, and I filled the garage sale bag the rest of the way (left) and another whole kitchen bag full of garbage that I am on my way to haul out right now as soon as I get a nice tall glass of cold water.


Whew!!!!  Now that that's all done, I can finally get on to de-cluttering some other things...preferably something that won't take quite so long!  Time for a break...I'll try to be back later to show you what's up for dinner!