Of Waffles and Women

Good morning! I didn't know what to make for breakfast this morning. My daughter woke up an hour early, so I had to figure something out. I hate that feeling. I've been kind of grumpy this morning, but not just because of that. I have to have the house all clean for a showing this afternoon, which is practically impossible with kids in it. Also several things got dropped on my foot, which always brings out the worst in me. I ended up making waffles, which were a hit except that my son threw a big fit over washing his hands, and then was throwing his food around. Maybe grumpiness is contagious. I decided to get some childcare for today so I can get some extra work done and keep the house tidy. I think the kids will have more fun away from grumpy mama anyway. Here is a thought I had: wouldn't it be great if churches offered a "planning period" for moms, in which childcare was provided, but nothing was expected of moms except to sit down and be thoughtful about the activities of the week ahead?

Thanksgiving

We had our first Thanksgiving as returned Arizonans today.  It was sweet!  We got to host my parents - what better reason to push to get unpacked and settled!  I was thrilled.

My mom knew I was going to make cupcakes, so she surprised me with an early Christmas gift - a cupcake tree!  I arranged the top two tiers with the 10 turkey-topped cupcakes I made for today.  Even before I served them these little guys had brought so much fun to my life, but then when I put them on this stand my family said they looked like a choir - like a living Christmas tree pageant, if you've ever seen one of those.  They're right, of course.  Just imagine them singing, and try not to smile.

Speaking of smiles, I give you here my little boy enjoying finger foods from one of the pilgrim hat style combination plate and dipping-trays I made.  This was another super fun little project.

I liked when I took the picture below that I got so many people in the shot.  Mom and I were standing in my kitchen, just on the other side of that counter with the food on it.  That's my little girl with her Indian-style hat on that she made earlier this week.  My husband was in the kitchen most of the morning, since he made the turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce, and heated up the gravy.

Well, below is what it's all about; what we have to be thankful for.  I am thankful that my kids got to host their grandparents for Thanksgiving, that they saw them a week or so ago, and will see them in another week or so.  It's rather magical.

Side note: my daughter is wearing an outfit that my mom gave me at a baby shower for Kyrstin four years ago.  I just discovered yesterday that it would fit her, and was thrilled!  It has a bee motif.  On the bib it says, "Bee attitudes," and it is embroidered with attitudes I want to teach Kyrstin: Bee kind, Bee patient, Bee happy, and Bee thankful.  Seemed perfect for today.

We tried to get family pics for our Christmas card - it's all happening so fast! - but the kids wouldn't sit still.  We'll try again next weekend.

I've been trying to teach Kyrstin about Thanksgiving; we have a children's storybook that, I think, fairly represents the story from both the native American and European points of view.  It states as fact that there was a group of people who did not appreciate the way they were forced to worship, and so they were looking for another place to live.  Meanwhile in BSF we have been studying Abraham, and looking at Hebrews 11, which describes Abraham and others looking for the promised land.  

"[T]hey admitted they were strangers and aliens on the earth.  People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.  If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.  Instead, they were longing for a better country - a heavenly one.  Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them" (13c-16).

I thought a lot about the faith and endurance of those early settlers.  I know they could have returned on the Mayflower when it sailed back after that first winter, but they didn't; they worked it out  because they believed.  Deep down they must have had the conviction of things not seen, and they stood and walked by faith.  It is a courageous legacy, one that I hope that I can grow and pass on to my family.

Just in case you're (p)interested

Ah, delay! What grief it has sometimes been to me, and yet, what a blessing in disguise! It is a delay that allows me to write this post, sitting here in front of this fire.

We are shifting our deeply-rooted lives 1000 miles west. That is a big ship to turn around. It takes a little more time than we thought.

I've been taking pics of things I think will be my last, like this cup of coffee brewed in my house. Please excuse my hair. I told my husband that I felt like packing up the coffeemaker would be the point of no return. Well, it's not sealed up yet, but I'd kinda rather not get it back out tomorrow, since I washed the carafe. That seems like boring news for the Internet.

Okay, so here's something kind of fun. Pumpkin spice bagels! Yahoo! I'm enjoying all the pumpkin ness.

I'm not on Pinterest, but it benefitted me the other day when I asked my girlfriends for advice on packing up my necklaces. An idea from Pinterest was to thread skinny ones through a straw so they didn't get tangled. So I did. If I were on Pinterest, I'd post this idea. I decided to roll up my busy necklaces in a towel, like so. It made a little necklace log that was easy to pack. TAda! I don't think this is super original, but it was a good solution.

This huge, bright truck is in my driveway. Isn't it pretty? The kids have had a great time running up and down the ramp. Here is my hubs, who essentially wore himself out yesterday and today, loading said vehicle.

So, we're to the point where the house looks like this. And we still have stuff like this in the garage. (Pic was taken during the day, FYI.). So there is just enough left to do that by taking an extra day we can enjoy this fire tonight, rest up, and then wrap up properly and without strain.

Oh yeah, one more pinteresty thing - I saw these apple nachos a site with a other fall recipe I like, and made them for the kids a few times. Nutella a d pb. They LOVE them. Who wouldn't, right? Do other families also go through a jar of Nutella per week, or is it just us, and the novelty of it?

So anyway, in case you're pinterested, we're a day behind but doing fine.

Happiness is...

Here I present the cupcakes I've always wanted to make. Ta da!

Why have I always wanted to make these? Because a) I think they look pretty, b) this is how all the cool kids are doing icing these days, and c) the way the cool kids do it seems good for delivering lots of icing.

I made a single layer cake batter who h resulted in 12 cupcakes. The icing recipe I made was supposed to frost two layers of cake. I think that is supposed to frost 24 cupcakes. I used it up on just twelve.

It was super easy. I just sort of scooped frosting into a sandwich baggie, snipped off the corner, and piped it on in kind of a swirly motion. It was actually easier than frosting any other way. Pretty and sugary.

Heigh-de-ho, neighborinos!

We have a new family moving in next door and and I don't know their names yet.  I decided to bake a loaf of sandwich bread to take over.  I hope they are not on a gluten-free diet!  In any case, it certainly can't make things worse.  It will finish baking in four minutes from the present moment in which I am typing, and I am hoping it will be sufficiently cooled that I can slice it and take it over while the kids are still asleep.

Thankful

It has been in a thoughtful, though not unproductive, day. Learning new skills or adapting to change takes energy. I planned at one point to write a gripey post about how tired I am. Then I remembered that I ought to be thankful in all things. I am grateful for solutions to problems that come at just the right time. Like dinner tonight. I had some ground beef and noodles and was trying to figure out how to use said beef without serving a version of what I served last night (a sausage goulash). I recombined things in my mind with other available ingredients until I realized that I could serve this. Meatballs with chipotle ketchup and pasta primavera. I was really pleased that it turned out tasty, appealing, and a little bit special because of the ketchup (see prior post about making ketchup). My husband made a point to teach my daughter to thank me for cooking and for always keeping them fed.

Pear tart

This is an image associated with frugality. An empty plate.

And this was indeed the situation in my house yesterday.  However, there are more images to include in the story.

Trying out a new tart recipe to use up the overripe pears in my fridge.  

The finished product:

I sent it to work with my husband, and it was almost gone in a few hours.  Here is the piece he saved me:

I ate it last night, which brings us to picture #1, for then the tart was all done.  

Yum.  It's something I never would have made if I hadn't searched for a recipe to use up extra pears.  I found this one highly recommended, involving normal pantry ingredients.  Frugality can be delicious and creative.  

Monday Madness

Okay, so I am about to sit down with some coffee and try to listen to a Beth Moore CD session, while I am making cinnamon rolls.  And the kids are asleep.

But all of that can be quite misleading.  I think people would be interested to know exactly how much madness is routine - if that is not an oxymoron - in a home with two preschoolers.  I guess if you have more, God gives more grace, because I know households with more preschoolers presided over by perfectly sane mothers.

First of all, here is lunch.  It was perhaps the most nutritionally questionable thing I've cooked them in awhile.  Ramen noodles with hot dogs, cheddar, and broccoli.  But let me tell you what.  I had a little bit of it, and I certainly would not have minded having a lot more.

See that little amount in my son's bowl?  I had just added that after he finished about three times that amount.  He actually finished his lunch.  That never happens.  So, we have a winner. Or at least, some kind of, "Most Unlikely Meal" award.

Backing up, I took the kids to the library this morning.  They actually did quite well. I was starting to get a little proud of myself.  Should have known better.  I took my daughter to the kids' potty - she did awesome - and as I was getting her readjusted afterward, the boy sat on the potty, too, and dipped his clothed bottom into the toilet.  What do you say to the eyes of surrounding mothers in the library, when they see your little boy running around with a soggy bottom?  Nothing.  You hope they either ask or come to the right conclusion.

On the way home, the kids yelled together.  They were making each other laugh.  To you who are non-moms, or older generation moms, the thought might call for serious discipline.  In me, it called forth smiles and laughter, and occasional admonitions of, "Okay, that's too loud." I reasoned that though it was a strange game, (if you can say "Aaaaah!" at the same time as someone else, you can join the team), it was at least something they were doing together with brotherly love.

Oh, did I mention my little boy likes to sleep with his fan?  

All this just in case anyone thinks being a mom is just one Better Homes and Gardens - or pick your cooler magazine - tableau after another.

Speaking of mags - I have an idea.  More later.

Zigzags

This morning, I read an admonition in 1 Thessalonians to "be joyful always." Yay! Okay! Here goes! I also was reading in a Christian book about how sometimes bad things happen, and that God's will does not always proceed in a straight line. Indeed. I am wondering where my own zigzags are going to take me. All I know is He is with me, my sure foundation. Well, speaking of zigzags, I made this braided calzone a few times last week. With the dough made in the bread machine, the work was really minimal for me, and it's an easy and pretty way to feed a family. The braid is such a nice touch.

It's not easy being Jeeves

Here is my prepared "English Breakfast" in front of the computer where I'm writing.

My overnight plan didn't go exactly as I'd expected; the bread machine was so loud at 3:30 this morning that it woke me up, so I moved it into the guest bathroom where the sound would be least bothersome to the family. Just to ease your mind, this is a bathroom where the toilet and bathtub are behind a separate door. The smell worked out exactly as I'd hoped, though I noticed there was no coffee smell. That is because I programmed my coffeemaker for PM instead of AM. Anyway,at 7:30, here's what I had.

My 1 1/2 lb. loaf of bread and my 4-cup pot of coffee (I was only making the coffee for me). Doesn't that hunk of bread look great? The kind of big bulk that makes you want to sing, "Let us break bread together on our knees." This is the kind of bread that in biblical times could be placed on a table and everyone just pull off a chunk to eat. In fact, I am told people still do this in the middle east. Well, like I said before, I was feeling British, so it needed to be sliced. You know what's the greatest thing since sliced bread? Me, either, but I can understand why that moment split culinary time. Slicing the bread is no easy chore now if you don't have the right knife. I have this small serrated knife that required two separate sawings per slice - one on each side. I wonder when sliced bread came out and when electric knives came out. I often wonder about pre-industrial, pre kitchen-full-of-time-saving-gadgets women and/or their help. Well, I sliced two thin slices for my kids, which turned out kind of uneven, and then sliced two big chunks, which I realized was a much better shape when you can do it. Here are the non-kid slices.

Here are the kids.

Sitting out were the butter, jelly, eggs, microwave steamer bowl, bread machine pain, coffee, and a can of peaches. By 9 A.M. I sat down with the above breakfast. Thinking of all of the conveniences I had, and how long it still took me, my hat is off to all of the house help at Pemberley and Longbourn (no E).

I rang

I am feeling very British and pampered right now. I programmed both my breadmaker and coffeemaker for 6:30 tomorrow morning. The way I hope it works, the coffee will start brewing at 6:30, which is right when I will need to take the bread out of the machine to let it cool for 20 minutes before I slice it. I imagine myself enjoying some coffee while I wait on my bread. Doesn't that sound nice? This is inspired by Jane Austen, directly and indirectly. My husband got me a few Austen-themed gifts for Christmas, and my imagination has luxuriated around Longbourne, Netherfield, and Pemberley. Yes, even Longbourne, because let's face it, even being a shabby aristocrat is still the life. One perk is that someone makes all of your meals for you on a certain schedule. You can even "ring for breakfast" if you want it at an hour earlier than it would customarily be laid out in the house. The thought of ringing for breakfast when it suits you really suited me, so I decided to arrange for my own breakfast to be made. Bread and coffee doesn't make a whole breakfast, especially when little kids are eating with you, but it will be a nice way to start the day. Happiness is being your own cook, maid, and butler. It will be worth it for the aromas alone. *Technical note*: for some reason over the past month my paragraph breaks have disappeared. When I'm composing they're there, but what I see does not translate.

Without money and without cost

My house smells like teriyaki chicken, chocolate chip cookies, yeast rolls, and rice. I mean, if you've ever been susceptible to the warm fuzzies, I think this would do it for you. We are preparing a Thanksgiving feast (the terikyaki is for tonight - Thanksgiving Eve). We will have turkey, green bean casserole, stuffing, cranberry sauce (good stuff), yeast rolls, and cake. It will be more than enough. Today we happened to be driving on the highway, and at our exit waited a man with a long white beard and a cardboard sign. He stared at us, peered at us, the second car in line at the stoplight, which seemed forever. "It's Santa Claus!" said Kyrstin. I had had the same thought. Sweet girl. I tried to explain he was not Santa Claus, but a hungry man who wanted a job to do. "No, he's Santa Claus," she protested. Then, from somewhere, came the exclamation, "Get out of our way, Santa Claus!" I think she thought that we were sitting so long at that light because he wouldn't move. Fixing our feast today, I remembered the verses from Isaiah, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost." I began thinking that I wished I knew someone who needed a meal to share, who could come over and be with us. I don't think I do. I don't know that man or where to find him. I'm sure there's someone I could invite, I just don't know how to make the announcement. Maybe on Facebook? Shout out KJV style, "Ho, all you who are thirsty!" At the same time, I don't want a hoarde showing up. I can't feed them all. I could have like four people over to share a meal with us. Not sure how I could find them without still feeling like I'm excluding people. In high school, my dad's church always did a community Thanksgiving meal. People came to the waters, and ate without money and without cost. It felt right. It's a meal that needs to be shared, as it was originally, to thank God for what He has provided. So, we're making a feast, and the invitation is open, should anyone read this. We love to cook and share.

Happiness is...

I think I'll start a "happiness" is category, where I just post some of my favorite things. Yesterday I was cruising the Internet looking for the perfect dessert to make for Thanksgiving. I really enjoyed it at first, but after about thirty minutes, I felt a bit queasy. I have an aversion to words like "moist" and "morsel," and a lot of the food pictures were the equivalent. I think I'm going to make a recipe my cousin sent me. No pictures; just a recipe that sounded good. She described it as "all fall," "not elegant," and something the kids would like. That's kind of neither here nor there - my point here is that I ended up making a crock pot bread in the afternoon with some pumpkin puree my husband made. Happiness is making bread in a crockpot, having it for dessert with family at dinner and then having it for bressert next morning.