Musings of Christmas

This is the third Christmas that I have thought more about Mary than about Jesus at this time of year.

In particular, Luke 1:38

"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said."

I think about her strength of mind; of her faith in God. I think about how she was challenging everything in her life: her parents, her betrothed, her religion; her culture - in accepting this Holy burden.

How afraid she must have been? What would everyone think? What would they think of her? Would they think she was crazy?

Even after the birth of her miraculous child, she didn't freak out when shepherds - complete strangers - come to see her newborn. Instead she:

... Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

What does this say about her?

Now that I am a mother, I look at the Nativity story differently. Instead of the great miracle of our Lord's birth, I see the strength and faith of a young woman. I see how her obedience to God has prospered us all. I see how her courage has saved us all.

Today, on Christmas day, my wish for you is to find your own strength and courage to be obedient to God.

Read More

Crazy Experiments

Ok.. so a couple of weeks ago, I told you that I was sharing my menu with you and that worked pretty good.

2 weeks ago, I did the next step in the whole, domestic goddess path. I did all my grocery shopping for two weeks which meant that I had to do meal planning for two weeks. This was interesting because A) who knew that 2 weeks of groceries would completely fill up the grocery cart? and B) who knew that it could be cheaper to shop for two weeks instead of one?

That second item is technically true. We have a weekly budget that we pretty much follow and that budget has a set amount for groceries. While the cart full of groceries cost more than one week of groceries - DUH - it actually worked out to be cheaper if averaged over two weeks. In fact, it saved us almost $50!!

Why? Because I was able to make a big purchase spread out a little further... I've got to admit that studying the sale paper really helped and so did a couple of other resources:

Coupon Mom lets me know what sorts of things are on sale and how coupons can help. And CouponSuzy actually lets me print out coupons!

Read More

Santa 2009

Phoebe went to see Santa a couple of weeks ago.

Every time I look at this picture, all I think is: "At least she wasn't crying."

The dress came from Kohl's and was a great deal.

Read More

And after I stopped praying for death, I got a pony.

Couple of weeks ago, I went to a Mom's club biz meeting. They only happen once a month and I've missed the last couple. We've got a rule in the club that if you or your child are sick, then you don't attend club events. For the last two months, Phoebe has become ill a day or so before the meeting, so we've missed them.

This month! HA! She's fine. She was great. At 10AM, we went to the meeting and learned a lot, talked to other moms, decided a few things to do in the club, etc. On the way home, however, my throat was suspiciously scratchy. By 2PM, I was really sick. Sick enough that I wondered if I could go get Moo from the train station.

We did get to the train station and home and by the time we got home, I went straight to bed. Moo worked from home the next day and helped take care of my little dumpling daughter and I slept.

I never ran a fever. Just sneezed and hacked and coughed. The phelgm threatened to take over my body. This went on for a week. Moo said, why don't you go to the doctor.

No, I wouldn't go to the doctor cause I figured it was a cold. No green or yellow phelgm. Just clear and running. There's no reason to go for that. If it lasted beyond 10 days, I'd go. Then I'd need to go.

And then, miraculously, on day 9, I felt like cleaning the kitchen. Just like that.

And that is the story of a cold.

Read More

The Plan

I'm trying to make our meals a little more interesting. I've added a fair number of new recipes to our repertoire in the last few months so we do have some different stuff... cooking at home saves money, is more nutritious - all that good stuff.

I'm also making sure we eat more balanced meals, like you know, with vegetables and stuff.

So in an effort to hold myself more accountable, I'm sharing this week's menu:

Saturday: I bought a roasted turkey breast from the Honeybaked store and we had mixed veggies and yams.

Sunday: Homemade Vegetable Beef Soup and homemade cornbread

Monday: rerun the soup and make fresh cornbread (would have re-run the cornbread too but it's been a while since I made it and my cast iron pan wasn't seasoned well enough and the cornbread tore up really bad)

Tuesday: Frozen pizza and salad.

Wednesday: Taco Mac and salad

Thursday: chicken enchiladas I made last week and froze.

Friday: 2nd half of the taco mac and salad

So this week is a mix of fresh, homemade frozen and store bought.

I'll share recipes with you as we go although I can't always promise pictures. I have great intentions but tend to forget to take the photos as I go so you get a pic of all the ingredients, but nothing else.

Read More

New Stuff?

• Yep, if you go to the blog, you'll see that it looks a LOT different. I'm playing around with the template and have branched out - har de har har - into some non-Blogger templates...
• My daughter has roseola. It's a common virus that cause really high fevers followed by a rash. The fever comes suddenly and then is gone suddenly. It is one of those random viruses that has you freaking out.
• Still trying to get the ceiling in our master bedroom fixed. Last week, I had the guy over to fix it and found that we couldn't because there was STRUCTURAL damage in the roof causing the leak. Called the insurance and am now getting reports/estimates from roofers.
• Last week's Stamp-A-Stack was a great success!! If you want to be part of this, go over to my creative blog www.hyppychick.com or email me.
  

Read More

Saturday Funny

see more Lol Celebs

Read More

"You feed me minced?"

This child ticks me off.

I admit it.  I have what I will call traditional views on children and food.  Before Moo and I were married, I would often quietly critique how folks feed their kids.

This critique comes from a couple of different experiences I've had over the years.

Experience #1:  When I was about 6, we went to a family cookout.  The adults had steak.  The kids were fed hotdogs.  I have always had a love/hate relationship with hotdogs.  Cooked in a particular way (in a skillet with a tiny amount of butter) I like them, otherwise, I don't.  Since these hotdogs were cooked on a grill, I wouldn't eat them.  So I went hungry until my parents realized that I was only eating a bun (the baked beans had peppers and were too hot and the potato chips were the cheap extra greasy kind and I wouldn't eat either one).  They gave me part of their steak and then the other kids started asking for steak and our hostess - a cousin of my dad - got mad at my parents for their "bad example".

Experience #2:  Long before I met Moo, I dated this guy who would only eat potatoes and would only drink milk.  Want to go to a restaurant?  "What kind of potatoes do they have? Baked? Fried?"  It was a nightmare and we didn't date long.  When asked why he did this, he said that his parents had always let him eat what he wanted and all he really wanted was potatoes and milk.

"Have you ever had Japanese teppanyaki?"

"No.  Don't want to.  It looks gross."

"But you haven't tried it."

"Don't have to try it to know it's gross."

Since Phoebe started eating table food, I've come a long way in putting together healthy, balanced meals for her.  I still thinks she eats entirely too much chicken, but Moo pointed out that he and I eat a lot of chicken so we need to look at that.  The good thing is that she eats just about anything I offer her.

Since she got her 1 year molars, I've offered everything from the table with almost 100% acceptance including pickles, potato salad, and lettuce.  I tear or cut everything up of course, but the fact remains that this kid will eat almost anything.

Food companies have put out so many processed, packaged foods that I think parents are using as crutches instead of trying to put together healthy balanced meals.  I admit to feeding Phoebe a couple of these but only during travel when I don't know what will be on the menu.

I don't think kids get a good understanding of balance in these meals and I certainly don't think kids are getting any exposure to new foods and tastes.  I think the milk/potato guy is an extreme, but I see him as the prime example of why broadening kid's tastes is important.

When I was a kid, my parents said that I didn't have to eat everything on my plate, but that I needed to try everything.  And just like you do when your baby is trying new foods, I was offered things regularly that I said I didn't like just to see if I'd changed my mind.  To that end, I still do this. 

Just in the past year, I've come to like tomatoes and onions.  Before I tolerated them so long as I couldn't find them.  I'm still not likely to have a tomato sandwich or a slice of raw onion, but I now love grilled onions and I like seeded raw tomatoes.  So I think even adults have something to learn from this.

So when this commercial plays and this kid, in a very obnoxious voice starts berating her mother for feeding her (the child) minced fish sticks, I found myself getting incensed.

If the minced fish sticks are safe to eat and not too laden with fat and carbs, why does it matter whether FISH STICKS are made of minced or whole fish?  And why does this kid get to browbeat her parent into buying what is probably more expensive FISH STICKS?  Afterall, these are FISH STICKS!  Not fine cuisine. 

What foods do you hate and have you tried them lately to see if you still hate them?

Read More

Yesterday in Brief

I feel like I'm always telling you how busy I am and I don't have a lot to back it up with.  For that matter, I'm always telling Moo that I haven't gotten anything done and then I look at the list of things I've done in a day and I wonder where my brains are.  So I thought I'd walk you through a day with me...

5:30AM - Get up, get dressed.
5:50AM - Get Phoebe up and dressed and bottle
6:15AM - Take Moo to train.  We've only got one car and if I need to run errands, like yesterday, I have to take him in.
7:20AM - Back at the house
7:30AM - Feed Phoebe breakfast
7:55AM - Use flashlight to evaluate pesky rash.  Phoebe had a rash for a couple of days and was paranoid after call to pediatrician revealed that rash could be strep.  However, rash is almost completely gone.  Still mildly paranoid but will maintain vigilance.
8:00AM - Phoebe's nap time
8:05AM - My breakfast
8:20AM - Complete Insurance paperwork for Moo's Mac that got zapped during the storm.  Also includes printing out the receipt and finding and printing out the replacement value Mac information.
9:00AM - Work on Blog post for biz blog.
9:15AM - curse at Blogger because photos won't upload
9:20AM - decide to take break on Facebook AKA Time Sucker
10:00AM - Back to blog post.  F&$%#!!  Photos still won't upload.
10:30AM - Phoebe wakes up.  Time for a diaper change and bottle.  Phoebe doesn't want bottle.  Sigh...She's nearly done with these things.
11:00AM - Time for errands.
11:20AM - Take paperwork to Insurance company.  Explain why I'm bringing it instead of mailing ("uh because I was told to?")
11:50AM - Grocery store for a few odds and ends.
12:20PM - Idiot light (low fuel light) comes on.  Fill up tank
12:25PM - Go ahead and get ice at gas station since I forgot at grocery store
12:30PM - Get back home
12:40PM - Chase down toddler and feed her lunch (turkey, green beans and POTATO SALAD!! - the kid will eat almost anything!  Thank you Toddler Food Goddess!)
1:00 PM  - Play time with Phoebe
2:00 PM - Phoebe's nap time
2:10 PM - Lunch for mama - leftover bbq pork, salad, remainder of potato salad.  Then a break.
3:00 PM - more cursing at Blogger.
3:35 PM - text Moo about Blogger weirdness.
3:40 PM - Moo texts that yes, there's a problem.  Decide to work on biz newsletter instead.
4:30 PM - get text from Moo that Blogger seems to be working.  Attempt work there again.  Still acting weird, but much improved.
4:50 PM - Realize that I need to leave in 10 minutes to pick up Moo.  Rush around finding shoes and keys.  Then make quick bottle and wake up Phoebe.
5:05 PM - Run out to car.  Put Phoebe in car seat, give bottle.  Head off to MARTA.
5:20 PM - DRAT!  Trip to MARTA only takes 15 minutes.  If I leave 5 later, it takes 45 minutes.
5:25 PM - Phoebe wants more bottle.  Thank goodness I have spare in bag.
5:55 PM - Moo gets in car.
6:30 PM - home.  Moo starts dinner while I figure out something weird that came in the mail
7:00 PM - Dinner
7:30 PM - Playtime and after dinner cleanup
8:00 PM - Phoebe's bedtime.
8:30 PM - Play Dungeon's and Dragons online (yes, I am a geek) with Moo. Get killed.  Twice.
9:30 PM - Time to get ready for late night business related conference call.  Popcorn popped, drinks made.
10:00 PM - Conference call about blogging, Search Engine Optimization and RSS
11:05 PM - end of conference call.  Discuss what I learned with Moo.
11:45 PM - Moo wants to show me something in game that he found while I was on conference call
12:05 AM - decide to pickup living room before bed.
12:30 AM - determine task list of things for biz web redesign
12:45 AM - BED

So that's it.  That's what my errand days look like.  Non-errand days are a lot like that too but without all the driving.

One observation: Why does my daughter almost always get sick right before a Mom's club meeting?  Yesterday, I was afraid she might still have something communicable and kept her home.  Today, the rash is completely gone.

Read More

It's Monday again... so it must be raining

• Why is it that it rains almost every time I need to drag the garbage can to the curb?
• Baby girl has some sort of rash.  She's had it a couple days now.  She appears to feel well otherwise.  No diarrhea, fever, or rash anywhere else.  I've got a call in to the pediatrician so we'll see...
  
• Biz stuff: I am having a Stamp-A-Stack next week.  A Stamp-A-Stack is an event where I provide all the tools, materials and instructions to create several projects and you bring yourself and put them together!  This time we're creating 12 Christmas cards with 6 different designs.  If you'll be in the Tifton, GA area and you're interested, let me know and I'll get you an invite.  I'll be hosting these here in Douglasville during the rest of the month.  Again, if you're interested, shoot me an email at amanda@hyppychick.com and we'll chat.  If you want to see a sample, check out the last post about it on my creative blog here.
• Related biz stuff:  I am working on getting ready for the above event.  Funny thing about working on the biz is that everytime I sit down, I think about all the domestic stuff I need to do and begin to feel as if I should work on domestics instead.
  

Read More